"Help Infertile Couples"... Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission Notifies Related Agencies of 17 Policy Proposals

Analysis of 1,493 Complaints on 'Expectant Parents' Health Rights'
More than Half Demand Expanded Support for Infertility Treatment Costs and Others

Analysis of health-related complaints from prospective parents revealed that more than half were requests for expanded support for infertility treatment costs and inquiries about infertility treatment leave. The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission (ACRC) identified 17 policy proposals based on this analysis and notified relevant agencies, including the Ministry of Health and Welfare, to consider them when formulating policies.

Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission. / Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

On the morning of the 23rd, the ACRC held a briefing at the Government Complex Sejong, stating that with the rising age of first marriage and childbirth increasing the likelihood of infertility, they analyzed complaints related to the health rights of prospective parents and derived policy implications to support healthy childbirth among the reproductive-age population.

According to the ACRC, a total of 1,493 complaints related to the health of prospective parents, including infertility and prenatal testing, were received through the complaint information analysis system over the past three years and four months. By complaint type, requests for expanded support such as infertility treatment (480 cases), inquiries about infertility treatment leave (338 cases), dissatisfaction with medical institutions and support systems (167 cases), and objections to differing support policies by local governments (161 cases) were reported in that order. Women (68.9%) filed more complaints than men (31.1%), and those in their 30s (64.1%) and 40s (27.2%) accounted for over 90% of the total.

Major complaints included requests to abolish income criteria for infertility treatment cost support programs and dissatisfaction with insufficient support policies compared to other regions. There were also many requests to improve the infertility support system, such as expanding infertility treatment leave and allowing common-law couples to receive infertility treatments, as well as complaints about unfriendly responses from medical institutions.

Based on the complaint analysis, the ACRC identified 17 policy proposals and notified relevant agencies, including the Ministry of Health and Welfare, to consider them when formulating policies. To realistically reform the infertility treatment cost support program, proposals included "reverting from local government projects to national projects," "abolishing income criteria," "expanding support for treatment discontinuation or failure such as due to poor ovarian response," and "retroactive application of treatment costs incurred before the issuance of infertility support certificates." Additionally, they suggested ▲expanding the number of health insurance-covered treatments and removing intervals between procedures ▲institutional improvements to support male infertility ▲allowing treatments for common-law couples exceeding health insurance coverage limits ▲and expanding infertility treatment leave.

Active medical support measures to secure the health rights of prospective parents were also proposed. Specifically, they suggested ▲providing vouchers for prenatal testing ▲adding fertility-related items to the national health screening ▲providing vouchers for nutritional supplements (folic acid and iron) for pre-pregnancy health management ▲and promoting research on egg freezing for unmarried women.

Alongside this, to alleviate the psychological difficulties of prospective parents, they recommended strengthening welfare notification services, including reorganizing "Bokjiro" for personalized welfare service inquiries, establishing an SNS notification service for age-specific welfare benefits, and providing key Q&A related to infertility treatment cost support programs. To create physical and emotional conditions considering the special nature of infertility, they also proposed confirming the provision of counseling spaces for infertile couples within public health centers and medical institutions, and conducting gender sensitivity training to improve the response capabilities of medical staff.

Kim Tae-gyu, Vice Chairman of the ACRC, said, "Low birth rates can cause a serious national crisis, so we hope this complaint analysis will be reflected in the formulation of related agencies' low birth rate policies." He added, "We will continue to actively respond to major national tasks and social issues by utilizing big data analysis of complaints and do our best to resolve citizens' inconveniences through policy innovation."

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