Test tube benefit

The government promises tax deductions for those who spend money on in vitro fertilization

The government has decided to encourage infertile families who are trying to conceive children artificially. The costs of trying to acquire offspring using a “test tube” are now recognized as social in Russia. At the end of last week, a resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers was published, adding to the list of expensive types of treatment, the costs of which can be used by citizens to reduce personal income taxes. Now the document also takes into account “infertility treatment using in vitro fertilization, cultivation and intrauterine embryo insertion.” Those who spend on IVF are entitled to the same tax benefit as those who want to educate their children or buy housing for their family.

According to the Scientific Center for Obstetrics, Gynecology and Perinatology of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, 5.5-6 million women and 3-3.5 million men suffer from infertility in Russia. And the method of in vitro fertilization can solve the problems of 80% of infertile women. However, this effective procedure remains practically inaccessible to many infertile couples due to its high cost. Three attempts at fertilization required by the technology cost families almost 10 thousand dollars. Moreover, if the payment for the services of one IVF is approximately 30-40 thousand rubles, then the total cost of drugs can additionally reach another 40-60 thousand rubles . Now part of the payment for medical services can be offset by a social tax deduction. True, its total amount cannot exceed 50 thousand rubles, and the maximum savings is 6.5 thousand rubles. In addition, the list of medications, the costs of which can be taken into account when receiving a deduction for treatment, also includes some expensive hormonal and antihormonal drugs used in the treatment of infertility in this way.

This is not the first step towards transforming medical manipulation from a luxury concept that only select people can afford, into a means of solving a demographic problem on a national scale. In 2007, IVF costs amounted to 15 billion rubles. were included for the first time in the program “Reproductive Health of the Population” under the article “assisted reproductive technologies”. Local authorities have also been actively involved in helping infertile women over the past year. Thus, the Moscow authorities, for example, took on obligations to pay for IVF procedures from the budget for their infertile women. They followed the same path in Mordovia: “in vitro conception” is free for residents of the region. The Tyumen administration also pledged to finance the procedure for 800 residents of its region who need it.

Irina BELASHEVA