The long-term fiscal impact of funding cuts to Danish public fertility clinics

This study evaluated the fiscal impact attributed to recent policy changes that limited funding to public fertility clinics in Denmark. Taking into consideration that introducing patient co-payments will influence the numbers of couples treated, the number of children born every year from assisted reproductive technology will be affected. To reflect the government perspective, the model assessed the average life course of a cohort of assisted-conception singletons taking into consideration age-specific, per-capita government transfers (e. g. education, health care, family allowances, education, pensions) and lifetime gross tax contributions to derive the discounted net tax contribution from assisted-conception singletons. An investment of (sic)11,078 in a mother aged <40 to achieve an assisted-conception singleton was valued at (sic)154,100 in cumulative discounted net tax revenue when the child reaches age 50. A reduction in the number of live births generated additional savings of (sic)67-112 million due to reduced government transfers by age 25. However, by age 50, because of fewer children born and consequently fewer tax payers, a (sic)74-123 million loss to government was estimated. The projected discounted net tax revenue attributed to assisted-conception children suggests that publicly funded treatment provides economic benefits to government over the lifetime of the conceived children. (C) 2011, Reproductive Healthcare Ltd. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.