China Wants More Babies. Its IVF Policy Isn’t Delivering
As the population shrinks and infertility rises, couples say limited insurance and too few clinics aren’t making it any easier to have children.
Illustration: Jiayue Li for Bloomberg
For six years, Chen Huaxi has been trying to have a child, spending almost 100,000 yuan ($14,000) on in vitro fertilization treatments. So when she heard her province in northeast China had added IVF to its medical insurance program, the 38-year-old clothing shop owner felt a flicker of hope.
That quickly faded. Only eight basic procedures including egg retrieval and embryo development are covered in Liaoning province, leaving out costly but essential services such as imported medicines, genetic screening and embryo freezing.