《TAIPEI TIMES》 Proposal would end cap on IVF subsidy spending

By Lee Hsin-fang and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with staff writer

An end to a cap on spending for in vitro fertilization treatment （IVF） subsidies for married Taiwanese was proposed yesterday by the Executive Yuan in a bid to boost the nation’s falling birthrate.

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Every eligible couple who undergoes IVF treatment would get a subsidy following the removal of a budget ceiling, Premier Su Tseng-chang （蘇貞昌） told a news conference at the Executive Yuan in Taipei.

The annual budget for IVF subsidies would be underwritten by the government’s reserve fund on top of the NT$3 billion （US$100.22 million） per year the program receives since its expansion in September last year, Su said.

Childbirth subsidies are to be increased from NT$3,500 per family to NT$5,000 per family from next month, he said.

The government has raised the recommended number of children to three per family, he said.

The decision to broaden the program again was made given the positive results of the policy expansion last year, Health Promotion Administration （HPA） Director-General Wu Chao-chun （吳昭軍） said.

The program reported that 41,615 couples received IVF subsidies last year, a 2,000-fold increase from the average of the few years prior, Wu said.

The government distributed NT$2,796 million among 44,803 eligible couples between Jan. 1 and Tuesday, he said, adding that the figure includes 2,733 couples who had 3,070 babies after subsidized treatments.

At the current rate, 10,000 babies would be born to parents who benefited from the program before the end of the year, he said.

Taiwanese couples increasingly favor single or double-embryo IVF procedures, which are considered safer options than treatments utilizing three or more embryos, HPA data showed.

The proportion of couples choosing single or double-embryo IVF rose to 93.9 percent from July 2020 to March from 72.7 percent reported in 2019, the data showed.

The figure is the third-highest in the world after 99.8 percent in Australia and New Zealand, the HPA said.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES