Compulsory Neo-natal Insurance for IVF

Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang asked the Minister for Health whether the Ministry will consider making neo-natal insurance for IVF compulsory at the point of a positive pregnancy blood test rather than at the point of embryo transfer.

The Assisted Reproduction Programme (ARP) insurance scheme provides protection against possible high costs in neonatal bills incurred by babies conceived via in-vitro fertilisation (IVF). This is in recognition of the higher risks and costs that these babies potentially face at birth. For example, couples undergoing IVF run a higher risk of multiple pregnancies, and this may result in the premature birth of babies who may need neo-natal intensive care.

Couples are currently required to purchase ARP insurance at the point when they enroll for IVF. This makes the insurance premiums more affordable for all couples using IVF.

The Ministry of Health (MOH) is currently reviewing this policy. If the requirement to purchase insurance is deferred to a later stage, such as upon successful pregnancies from IVF, the risk pool will be smaller and the insurance premiums higher.

I thank the Senior Minister of State for saying that we are going to review this. One, what is the timeframe of this review? Second, it is not just the time you sign up for the IVF insurance, but I am also wondering whether we can get more companies to offer this neo-natal insurance because, at this point, only one company offers it. If we can get more companies, then, obviously, the pricing might improve as well.

The ARP insurance scheme was awarded via open tender to Great Eastern in 2011. The Ministry of Health (MOH) has decided that there is no need to have more than one provider currently because the pool is relatively small. In 2016, there were about 3,500 policies. But we will review this as necessary, going forward.

With regard to the review of our ARP insurance policies, the conditions and criteria, we are looking at them and several issues. We will come to a decision in due course.