IVF Photo: VCG

Shanghai will include 12 assisted reproductive medical services into its medical insurance system given the circumstance that there are a larger proportion of individuals aged 35 and above who are of advanced maternal age and there are relatively more people experiencing difficulties with fertility in the city.

A joint notice on including some of the therapeutic assisted reproductive technology (ART) items into Shanghai’s basic medical insurance payment system was recently released by the municipal medical insurance bureau, the human resources and social security bureau and health department, as one of its latest efforts to cope with its quickened aging pace and the circumstance that the average age of its residents who attempt the services is higher than that of the national average. 

Starting from June 1, 2024, a total of 12 indispensable items in the assisted reproductive medical services including oocyte retrieval, sperm retrieval, artificial insemination, embryo culture, and embryo transfer will be covered in the city’s basic medical insurance payment system, given the comprehensive consideration of hospital development and patients’ burden. 

The infertility rate in China has risen to 18.5 percent at present from 2 percent in the 1950s. There are 50 million couples of childbearing age are facing infertility difficulties, with one in every eight couples in need of the help from ART, said Sun Yun, a deputy director of Renji Hospital affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine and clinical director of the hospital’s Center for Reproductive Medicine. 

Besides Shanghai, a number of cities have ramped up their efforts for the reimbursement of medical bills for fertility services to relieve childbearing parents’ financial pressure. Earlier in 2023, Beijing and South China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region rolled out similar policies. Since the beginning of this year, Inner Mongolia, Gansu, Xinjiang, Shandong and Jiangxi have included assisted reproductive medical services into their basic medical insurance payment system. 

From a global perspective, one-third of assisted reproductive technology procedures in the world are performed in China. Shanghai ranks the second in the country for the number of ART treatment cycles conducted, and people from other places have conducted more than 100,000 ART treatment cycles in Shanghai, Sun said. 

The average age of people in Shanghai who attempt assisted reproductive technologies is higher than that of the national average. There are a larger proportion of individuals aged 35 and above who are of advanced maternal age and there are relatively more people suffering from difficulties with fertility in Shanghai, Sun added. 

Previously, Shanghai’s medical insurance bureau regulated the current assisted reproductive medical services, and authorized a total of 17 assisted reproductive medical services through optimization and integration. 

According to the bureau, the implementation of this policy will significantly alleviate the medical burden on patients, and is expected to ease the financial burden on insured people by about 900 million yuan ($124 million) annually. 

The measure aims to provide convenience to more residents in Shanghai who have the desire to bear children with more equitable, accessible and affordable assisted reproductive treatments to promote the high-quality development of the city’s life and health sector. 

Next step, the city’s medical insurance authority will continue to implement the national requirements, enact proactive fertility support policies and measures, and improve the insurance payment management of assisted reproductive medical services, as well as to strengthen inter-departmental coordination, promote the integration of basic medical insurance, maternity insurance, and related economic and social policies, in a bid to jointly foster long-term balanced population development. 

According to the city’s medical insurance bureau, 17 hospitals among the total of 20 hospitals in Shanghai providing assisted reproductive medical services are included in the group of designated hospitals covered by medical insurance. 

Global Times