Geochang-gun Promotes Expansion of Health Insurance Coverage for Infertility Treatments

Number of Procedures Increased by 4, Out-of-Pocket Costs Reduced to Ease Medical Expenses for Infertile Families

Geochang County Office building exterior view

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Choi Soon-kyung] Geochang-gun, Gyeongnam announced on the 10th that it will significantly expand the existing infertility couple treatment cost support project starting this year, following the expansion of the health insurance coverage for infertility treatments.

The infertility couple treatment cost support project is a program that partially supports medical expenses for in vitro fertilization (IVF) and artificial insemination procedures to help infertile couples have the children they desire.

In November last year, the number of times infertility treatments were covered by health insurance was expanded (fresh embryo IVF from 7 to 9 times, frozen embryo IVF from 5 to 7 times), but the existing support scope for infertility couple treatment costs was not expanded.

Starting this year, along with the increased number of health insurance-covered infertility treatments, the maximum number of supported procedures has increased by a total of 4 times compared to the previous year: up to 9 times for fresh embryo IVF and up to 7 times for frozen embryo IVF.

Additionally, the support amounts, which were previously paid differentially based on the number of procedures, will now be uniformly applied based on women aged 44 or younger: up to 1,100,000 KRW for fresh embryo IVF, up to 500,000 KRW for frozen embryo IVF, and up to 300,000 KRW for artificial insemination.

Those exceeding 180% of the median income, who were previously ineligible for support, can still receive assistance through the Gyeongsangnam-do infertility couple treatment cost expansion support project, provided that both infertile spouses have their resident registration address in Gyeongsangnam-do, as in the previous year.

Gu In-mo, the mayor of Geochang-gun, said, “We hope that the expansion of infertility couple treatment cost support will alleviate the economic burden on infertile families and become a great hope for couples struggling with infertility.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.