Funding

Your GP can conduct some tests free of charge, e.g. blood test to confirm ovulation and semen analysis.  Your GP or Family Planning clinic can refer you for a consultation with a fertility specialist.  You will need to pay for the visit to the GP, but not for the specialist appointment.  There are criteria for this consultation including age (the criteria differ slightly by region). 

The GP makes the application to the relevant local authority, and the clinic will then contact you directly regarding the appointment (do not book the appointment directly).  Alternatively, you can pay privately for an initial consultation with a fertility clinic (prices are on the clinics’ websites).  Any application for publicly funded treatment will not be affected by whether your initial consultation was referred by your GP, or booked/paid privately.

IVF is priced on a per cycle basis and the pricing may vary slightly by clinic. It will also depend on the exact treatment that you will require, for example, Intra-Cytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI) alongside IVF will increase the treatment cost.  The New Zealand government currently funds up to two rounds of IVF per couple who meet the eligibility criteria. Passing the criteria allows couples (or infertile singles) to join a waiting list for these publicly funded cycles. There is a minimal (or non-existent) waiting list for privately funded IVF treatment. This may cost in excess of $10,000 per cycle.

Eligibility for funded treatment

Requirements for publicly funded treatment differ slightly by District Health Board, but these criteria include:

• Couple has been trying to conceive for at least twelve months (for single people and same-sex couples, please refer to ‘Making Babies with Donors and Surrogates’)
• If there is no diagnosed reason for infertility (‘unexplained infertility’), the couple must have been trying to conceive for four years
• Woman’s age 39 or under at time of consultation
• Woman’s BMI 32 or less
• Woman must be a non-smoker (at least three months prior to application)
• NZ citizenship, residency or visa of at least two years’ in duration (for both partners of a couple)

Funding information for same-sex and single people can be found in the ‘Making Babies with Donors and Surrogates’ section.

Applications for funded treatment are reviewed against a CPAC (Clinical Priority Assessment Criteria) scoring tool.  This assesses your chances of pregnancy with treatment against your chance of becoming pregnant naturally.  Further assessment criteria include whether there has been a vasectomy or tubal ligation and whether the couple already has any children.  The couple must score 65 points or more to be eligible for publicly funded treatment.  The wait for treatment varies by area but can be in the range of 6–24 months.  If you undergo privately funded treatment while on the waitlist, this will not affect your eligibility for funded treatment (unless you become pregnant).