I asked all my friends and family to be involved (if they are willing) and have agreed to sending emails and letters too
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I asked all my friends and family to be involved (if they are willing) and have agreed to sending emails and letters too
Just sent all my letters by email
have sent my letter...and am also doing a story on this
Possums - keep us posted - let us know if we can watch the story online (or on tv) or read something.
I watched the late news last night - all I saw was coverage re: the alci-pops or whatever those drinks are called - think about how many ivf treatments that money could cover and now it has to be given back - what a joke (I know it would never be used for such, but I can't help thinking about it).
will do...see if i can find the latest...
Thanks for drafting the letter Buliej, I didnt know where to start! I have emailed everyone on the list plus my local member. Good on you for getting this issue out there!
Everyone is doing a great job writing letters and getting their friends and family to do likewise, with the little information that is available on the issue :clap:
BellyBelly is supporting the ACCESS campaign and we are urging members to apply pressure to politicians.
We will continue to monitor the situation and assess what support we will provide as more news comes to hand.
Please see THIS post for more information.
Thanks everyone.
after doing a few interviews on this it seems no clear answers will be provided by the government about possible changes to the medicare safety net until the budget is handed down in May.
The Opposition has raised the issue in Parliament, calling onthe government to ensure IVF services (and other things) are not cut...saying young couples trying to start a family should not be penalised.
Others say people should keep lobbying in the meantime.
Hi Dusty - for some reason that link didn't work, but I found it...here:
https://www.bellybelly.com.au/forums...afety-net.html
I'm really happy BellyBelly is supporting this.
Thank you.
How does it work here In Australia? Once the budget is handed down, does it automatically go into effect or do the politicians then negotiate with each other? I ask because I'm wondering whether we will only know what is happening after it has already happened.
I think we will only really know what is happening once it has happened
whoops! Link all fixed now. Thanks for picking that up Buliej :)
Hi Julie, thanks once again for bringing this to our attention, I have just sent our letter off to our local MP, plus emailed all the politicians on the list. My family have also sent in their own letters, they were very eager to help.
Thanks, Jodie
The budget is ONLY a proposal and has to be argued through parliament once it's handed down - most of the time the argument has happened beforehand, but sometimes it will be disputed when public reaction is gauged to certain changes. we've been advised at work that even though X payment may be mentioned, until it is passed into legislation (which happens within a couple of weeks) we can't guarantee that payment for people kwim?
I borrowed bits from the letters the other BB members had provided (thanks gals) and added my own twist. All sent off now.
hopefully it wont happen.
BG- yes thats a good point
I only found out about this late yesterday but I sent my emails off right away. Took me only 15mins or so and I feel like I actually helped by doing it.
I just borrowed from others letters too and added a bit about if we couldnt afford to do it we would be another couple who dont produce enough employed offspring to counteract the cost of our old age on the communtiy. It's not just now that it effects people but it would be a long lasting effect on the community. Imagine if the 11000 ivf babies born each year were not?!!!
Thanks for bringing this up. I dont subscribe to emails from my ivf clinic or access and I wouldnt have known about it till it was too late otherwise!
Hope we can all do our bit and make a difference. That is what a democracy is about :)
I think the letters are working - or at least getting attention - I've been googling (I can't tell you how little of my real job I've done this week, but it's been a great distraction from the TWW). I found that this issue has been raised on all the other Aussie baby forums and people are writing letters.
I also found a few articles:
Cancer patients may lose subsidies from Medicare Safety Net | Herald Sun
Cancer patients may lose subsidies from Medicare Safety Net | The Courier-Mail
I hope there are more. Of course, I've also found comments (in the very small minority how people agree IVF should not be funded or that parameters - age, reason for fertility, number of tries - should be put around IVF). I just don't agree - we all pay taxes - and my DH & I pay a fortune in taxes - and we deserve the benefits. DH & I are excluded from everything by the government - usually, I don't begrudge it as I (as an American) think it's wonderful that the government here actually provides for people who need it - until now....I can see this healthcare system - which is fantastic compared to the States - turning into one that looks so much more like the US system - where only the truly wealthy can afford IVF or where people mortgage their house to the max and max credit card debt - that would be a disaster and a huge step backwards.
There's a facebook group as well:
Help save IVF funding in Australia!!! | Facebook
I finally emailed some close friends to ask them to write. I was very reluctant to do so as we don't really talk about ivf with them (they know we are doing it, but day-to-day we don't discuss or mention where we are in the cycles as DH is SOOOO private). I wish I could email a wider audience, but DH would be so upset if I were to let the whole world know we are doing ivf. I don't feel the same as him in terms of keeping it so private but I have to respect his view
my mum can be a serious PITA sometimes, but when i told her what was going on yesterday, she went into activist mode. she wrote a really lovely letter (which i'll get her to forward to me) and emailed all the pollies and papers as i mentioned yesterday
she just got a phone call from the Courier Mail in Qld (we're in VIc) - they're considering publishing her letter tomorrow - noice! i'm impressed! there is no guarantee, but we're going to get my aunt to get a copy of the paper to see if it appears. she's written from a grandparents POV, not someone directly impacted - and they are looking to publish it!
GO MUM!
Thank you Buliej for the draft letter, most helpful with my brain a little sluggish today! I haven't posted for a while, but pop in to see how it's all going. Friday night was a frustrating time in our house when DH came home having seen the headlines in the paper and started searching the net for more info.
This whole experience is frustrating and at times very unpleasant, but to have something else hanging over our heads...someone else determining which direction our life will take...it's so unfair. Sometimes you get your head around whatever stage/situation you're in, then something comes along and winds you.
In some ways I lead a charmed life, a supportive, loving DH, a lovely home, friends and family...but there's a gap, and all we're trying to do is fill it - it's not easy, it's not cheap but we're trying. To think that the option of IVF may be taken off the table for so many people is frightening. Let's hope and pray this doesn't get passed.
Airline - I've been searching for articles in the papers and really haven't seen much - what did you DH read? We have today's papers and I've gone through one - not a mention - will see if The Age mentions anything.
Fingers-crossed that the letter and emails make a difference!
Oh yay for your Mum BG! Can you link us to the letter if it gets published do you think?
sazz - we're not sure if it got published, being election day in Qld yesterday, but my aunt is going to post down the paper. here is the email she sent though:
:
To whom it may concern
My daughter is a wonderful woman who has so much love to give a child. For her and her husband it has been a struggle to get through and they are the lucky ones who are now expecting a baby in late May. However they were not able to conceive naturally. My daughter has had to go repeatedly through invasive proocedures to get something that comes so naturally to many women. She suffered so much but did not regret it. Thank god that at the time, she was able to get assistance in paying for these procedures with the Medicare rebate. They would not have been able to proceed without this rebate and our beautiful longed for new grandchild would not be on the way.
I am writing to you now to ask for your assistance. Please fight for a woman?s right to be a mum, make them retain this rebate. There are so many couples like my daughter who are so suited to be parents. They struggle to put a home together, they are subjected to uneducated people who don?t know what they are going through, they work 2 jobs to get money together to start IVF, in many cases they have hundreds of kilometres to travel to have the procedures performed and all because they want a baby.
Please stop the Government from removing the Medicare rebate for these couples. Let them be the loving parents that they want to be. Show people that you care.
A Granma in waiting.
Buliej, below is what DH read from Courier Mail on Thursday night. I also found a scathing article by Piers Akerman on 21 March called Labour Party Sells Out. There's a lot of negative comments on Kevin Rudd and Labor, but towards the end they specify IVF, cancer patients and the Medicare Safety Net. (I went onto The Courier Mail website and just typed IVF in search box)
CANCER patients and couples struggling to have a family could lose taxpayer-funded subsidies under a plan to means-test the Medicare Safety Net.
The controversial overhaul of health funding is being considered by the Federal Government's razor gang in a desperate bid to slash spending in a looming horror May Budget.
Amid growing speculation about the cuts, Queensland doctors and cancer, heart and IVF patients throughout Australia have launched a campaign urging Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and his Cabinet not to proceed.
What do you think about the planned cuts?
Have your say
Taxpayers spend $319 million each year on the Medicare Safety Net, which is meant to help people with large medical bills.
Under the scheme, taxpayers can claim 80 per cent of their out-of-pocket medical expenses once they have spent $1111 in a year for a range of doctor visits and tests, including specialist consultations, ultrasounds, pap smears, blood tests, CT scans and X-rays.
But figures show more than half the money handed out goes straight to obstetricians and gynaecologists, with the scheme growing seven times faster than the inflation rate in 2007.
Health Minister Nicola Roxon yesterday refused to confirm or deny that the Government would means-test the Medicare Safety Net or remove the eligibility of some services under it.
But the lobbying is believed to be frustrating Mr Rudd's chief-of-staff Alister Jordan, whose staff have asked the IVF lobby group Access Australia to stop emailing him about their concerns.
Access Australia spokeswoman Sandra Dill -- who argues cutting the safety net would allow only the rich to receive IVF services -- said someone from Mr Jordan's staff yesterday rang to advise of the overflowing email correspondence and suggested that her members should write letters instead.
To Whom It May Concern:
I am writing to express my concerns over the possibility of the Medicare Safety Net becoming means tested. My concerns lie in the exclusion of IVF as an eligibile medical procedure. The Governement have recently introduced the means tested Baby Bonus, a bonus to increase the Australian population to assist with the ageing one. This is all well and good for the fertile population of Australia (approximately 85%). What percentage of these are receiving Parenting Payment Single (PPS)? What percentage of these are receiving PPS year after year, and have muliple children knowing full well that if PPS didn?t exist they could not financially support these children, but however can rest assurred that in Australia they?l be right because the Government will support them for no matter how many babies they decide to have, there is no limit.
Why all of a sudden would the Government be considering it fair for those whom have struggled for years and incurred numerous medical costs in each of those years such as: GP fees, blood tests, Gynocologist/Obsetrician fees, Endocronologists and other associated specialists, Psychologists, Naturopaths, Accupunturists, costs of medicines, herbal treatments and supplements, hospital procedures and out patient proceudres, all funded by their hard earned taxable income, and minimul support from their private health funds and medicare. Sorry 15% of Australians, although you will be able to support your family (when and if ) you have one financially, emotionally, and physically without depending on the Governement handouts such as PPS and Baby Bonus, but screw you ? you lose. You can continue to pay your taxes and 100% of your medical fees and the Governement will just look after the ones that are fertile. That?s discrimination.
Hey guys,
Found some more contacts: just click on each name and it comes up with contact details including there email address or an online proforma and I've just cut and pasted my spell checked final draft! :redface:
Parliament of Australia:Senate:Senators:Senators' Parliament House and State/Territory addresses, phone and fax numbers
Heres the ones that don't have the online proforma - you can just copy and paste these into your email.....
senator.adam@aph.gov.au; senator.barnett@aph.gov.au; senator.bishop@aph.gov.au; senator.boswell@aph.gov.au; senator.brandis@aph.gov.au; senator.bob.brown@aph.gov.au; senator.carol@aph.gov.au; senator.carr@aph.gov.au; senator.colbeck@aph.gov.au; senator.conroy@aph.gov.au; senator.coonan@aph.gov.au; senator.eggleston@aph.gov.au; senator.faulkner@aph.gov.au; senator.ferguson@aph.gov.au; senator.fielding@aph.gov.au; senator.fierravanti-wells@aph.gov.au; senator.hogg@aph.gov.au; senator.humphries@aph.gov.au; senator.hurley@aph.gov.au; senator.hutchins@aph.gov.au; senator.joyce@aph.gov.au; senator.lundy@aph.gov.au; senator.mcewen@aph.gov.au; senator.mclucas@aph.gov.au; senator.marshall@aph.gov.au; senator.mason@aph.gov.au; senator.milne@aph.gov.au; senator.obrien@aph.gov.au; senator.polley@aph.gov.au; senator.scullen@aph.gov.au; senator.sherry@aph.gov.au; senator.siewart@aph.gov.au; senator.stephens@aph.gov.au; senator.sterle@aph.gov.au; senator.wortley@aph.gov.au
These are great. I love how they are each different so that they touch on all the issues. I am so proud of us (and BG's mum and our other loved ones who care enough to write on our behalf).
I work in the health field. And Im digusted in the govt even contemplating this.
How about scrapping the baby bonus first.
How about scrapping free needles for heroin uses which may I remind people is ILLEGAL.
How about scrapping methadone.
sincerely
redlady
Taking IVF out of the medicare safety net has been put put forward by the pollies previously and people power has ensured it did not get up so keep those letters rolling in girls.
The annoying thing about it, is as the article quoted says
This rise is because obsetricians have put their fees up, way above inflation over the last 3 years in particular and IVF fees have also got ridiculously high. In my opinion, the government should be looking at whether there is justification for these fee rises. After all, us IVFers are not putting the money in OUR pockets, it is the medicos that pocket the money. OK, IVF is being used more but fees have gone up waaay too much.:
But figures show more than half the money handed out goes straight to obstetricians and gynaecologists, with the scheme growing seven times faster than the inflation rate in 2007.
The letters are being read! I received the below reply this morning. Keep the letter writing up!
_________
Dear Julie
Thank you for writing to me about plans that Mr Rudd has to restrict access to the Medicare Safety Net in the upcoming Federal Budget.
Prior to the 2007 Federal Election, Labor gave an unambiguous commitment that it would not change the Medicare Safety Net.
My colleague the Hon Peter Dutton MP, Shadow Minister for Health, is handling the matter on behalf of the Coalition. He has my full support to make sure the Labor Government does not break its promise on this issue.
Yours sincerely
Peter Costello
I got the same reply - way to go girls/boys!
xxBella
Thank you so much Julie for the draft letter, you are a gem, I've sent an email to our local MP and all other contacts last weekend....feel like I am contributing sth...and hope we will have the power to stop it...
BG, great letter from mum, I have tears in my eyes when reading it...I am so proud of us, everyone...:p
I also got the same reply from the office of Peter Costello today. At least one person is acknowledging our cries.
PS Does anyone know how I can delete these extra lines from my signature? When I go into edit it, the lines aren't there. Then when I preview, they appear ?*&%$#!
my mum got a call from the local rag today - they had no idea what was going on! they asked if they could do a story on our situation. i spoke to DH about it, and we've decided not to do it. as much as we haven't hidden our journey from friends etc, my DH is estranged from his family, who also live locally, and we just don't want that information out there - all it would take is someone to work out it was us (they can't guarantee that all identifying info would be omitted), and they'd then know we've lost angel babies, we've been through IVF, we've relied on the safety net - not info we want out there
if we weren't from such a small area, i'd have done it in a heartbeat, but i just can't bring myself to put it out there around here...
I too have received my letter from my fertility group and from ACCESS today requesting I write a letter and I definitely intend to cause I think it SUCKS! I will probably steal some of your letter samples (hope you's don't mind)...cause I ain't the best formal letter writer (obviously :rolleyes: :lol:). Will also let you's know how I go too.
BG - I totally understand - it would be one thing if they could guaranty all personal details would be omitted - but it's such a personal story that this would be impossible. I do hope they still do a story on this topic.
Bec - copy away!
Would you like me to pm you my letter?:
There's a good article by the AMA written on 1 March 2009. It is at Baby bonus, Assisted Reproductive Technology a boon for fertility | Australian Medical Association
It compares the 'cost' to the government per child from the baby bonus and from ivf. It shows that ivf babies are a cheaper investment for increasing the birth rate.
It also comments that single transfers of embryos are safer (due to the increased risks from multiple embryo transfer) - and to discourage this financially would be a mistake.
There's a good article by the AMA written on 1 March 2009. It is at Baby bonus, Assisted Reproductive Technology a boon for fertility | Australian Medical Association - given the date of this article it makes me think that this was being talked about behind the scenes for at least a few weeks before ACCESS and others got wind of it.
It compares the 'cost' to the government per child from the baby bonus and from ivf. It shows that ivf babies are a cheaper investment for increasing the birth rate.
It also comments that single transfers of embryos are safer (due to the increased risks from multiple embryo transfer) - and to discourage this financially would be a mistake.
I sent my email letter to the PM, the opposition leader, the Minister for health and the shadow minister for health along with my local MP, Nick Champion.
This afternoon I recieved a phone call from Nick Champion personally! He thanked me for the letter and said he knew nothing about it. He had talked to "someone high up in government" and they knew little of it themselves!!!!
He then told me that it is all Preemptive talk at the moment and it will probably be like the 2004 talk of age limits for ivf and that it wont even go any further than it has so far. He says sometimes people leak info that is important but often it is just to stir things up and that is the case here??? He will be in contact with the health minister about my letter (I told him I sent the same one there) and to "Leave it with him".
Then he congratulated me on our child and asked if it was a boy or girl, mentioned he could hear her babbling in the background and wished me luck with having number 2. :)
I thought it was very nice of him to phone me personally and discuss it rather than just send out a standard reply letter from his secretary!