Peter Costello is using discredited Health Department figures to push for IVF cuts

May 4 2005

Australian Medical Association (AMA) President, Dr Bill Glasson, has said that Treasurer Peter Costello was using discredited Health Department figures to support the Government's callous Budget plans to restrict Medicare access to IVF treatments.

Dr Glasson said the Treasurer was still running with dodgy Health Department figures over the weekend to back his push to cut IVF services, despite the Health Minister and his Department distancing themselves from the figures last week.

In response to a question on Channel 10's Meet The Press, the Treasurer said:

"Well, this is the medical advice that's been put to the Government by the Health Department through the Minister and I support them in their medical assessment…"

"The problem with the advice provided by the Department is that it was based on the number of Medicare claims with no clinical basis on patient age profiles, success rates or individual patient treatment cycles.

"It is a bureaucratic bean count, not a clinical analysis.

"The bigger problem for the Treasurer is that he was still hawking this misleading advice yesterday - more than 48 hours after it was ditched by the Health Minister and his Department.

"In matters dealing with human life and human health, the Treasurer would do better to seek advice from the IVF clinicians or from the women and their families who have made a huge emotional and economic investment in their individual IVF treatments.

"The Health Minister had the strength of character to admit his error in using this misleading information. The Treasurer should do the same," Dr Glasson said.