The fight for fertility treatment

Saskia Williams shares the ongoing battle to get medical aids to pay for fertility treatment and the success with Discovery.

About IFAASA

The Infertility Awareness Association of South Africa (IFAASA) was started by 10 ladies in November 2013. IFAASA is a non-profit company run by volunteers, relying on sponsorship to fund projects. The aim is to educate the public about infertility, to break the silence and stigma surrounding infertility, and to advocate for fair cover from medical aids.

When we came together in 2013, a motion was put forward at Discovery’s AGM that same year, asking them to cover infertility. Infertility is the only prescribed minimum benefit (PMB), on a list of 270, that is on the exclusion list of most medical aids when it comes to treatment. One of IFAASA’s main objectives is to change this status quo.

Dead end

In the first few years, we didn’t get very far with that particular fight, apart from being asked politely if we could stop attending the AGMs and rather meet behind closed doors. 

After a few meetings, the stance was clear as we were told that if they funded fertility treatment, they would have to take funding away from a life-threatening disease to enable them to do so. Our protestation, that should they look at the model some European countries use, invoking the same T&Cs, they would end up saving money, fell on deaf ears. We had hit a dead end.

New game plan

In the meantime, changes within IFAASA directorship took place, leaving three members. However, I wasn’t going to give up. Fortunately, there was great support from wonderful individuals and, together, we started formulating a plan. 

In February 2020, we made an appearance on Good Things Guy, where we spoke both from a patient point of view and from IFAASA’s, about the reasons medical aids need to fund fertility treatment. The podcast got great traction and the social media conversation started once again.

During lockdown 2020, we put together a legal team and began online meetings to ascertain whether it would be a good idea to challenge the exclusion of infertility, as a PMB, in court. After countless meetings, we established that it would be. We just needed to raise the funds to do so.

Slow but steady success

Then a meeting request came in from Discovery and what followed was more engagement than we had ever had in the past seven years. Together with the Southern African Society of Reproductive Medicine and Gynaecological Endoscopy (SASREG) and the new team in charge of the relevant department at Discovery, the meetings culminated in Discovery offering cover for Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) on their Comprehensive and Executive Plans (T&Cs apply). 

We are fully aware that this cover is nowhere near enough but, we need to stress just how good it is that Discovery is finally recognising that infertility is a disease that deserves to be covered.

The battle goes on

We are not stopping the fight for fair cover for all, including full cover for fertility preservation prior to cancer treatment. We understand that, when you receive a cancer diagnosis, the last thing you want to be worrying about is finding the money to pay for the preservation of your fertility. From inception, we’ve been raising awareness around the need for fertility preservation in cancer patients. 

So, what is next? 

IFAASA is currently fundraising for our potential legal battle, to try and overturn the PMB exclusion. We continue to lobby the medical aids and we are also continuing to break the silence and the stigma, by educating the public about infertility, through our webinars and our social media channels.

For more info, please visit ifaasa.co.za

Header image by Freepik