Mum reveals 'disturbing' detail in $150k IVF treatment

A new mum who spent up to $150,000 on IVF treatment has shared the heartbreaking hurdles she experienced trying to have a baby, as data reveals a surge in the number of Australians looking for lower cost options.

Britta Jordan, 42, first started her fertility journey in 2017 and received treatment at a private fertility clinic near her home in Campbelltown, NSW for years. However, she went through one unsuccessful round of IVF after another, with her age expressed as a concern.

Speaking to Yahoo News Australia, she said it was the "worst possible thing to go through" and the "whirlwind" of emotions was only exacerbated by the debilitating financial toll.

"You're on a roller coaster and you can't get off it until you win," she said. "You just think maybe next time it will work, maybe next time it will work... and you just keep trying and trying."

IVF patient reveals 'ridiculous' reality of trying to grow family

With more and more money being spent on their dream of having a child, Jordan and her partner decided to stop as they were reaching their financial limit.

However, another realisation contributed to the decision — pulling into focus the challenges of seeking health treatment from private companies.

"One day we saw the doctor's car in the car park and it was so expensive, it was so ridiculous. And I thought, 'We just paid for that car. And if we keep going, we're gonna buy him another one," she said.

It was this discovery that made her look elsewhere for a third, and final fertility clinic, turning to a low-cost fertility alternative.

Hopeful parents turn to low-cost fertility as cost of living bites

With advancements in fertility technology bettering the chances of Aussies growing their family, data from the Australian and New Zealand Assisted Reproduction Database suggests there is a surge in the number of people seeking assistance from low-cost clinics as the cost of living bites.

It's estimated that one in 18 babies born in Australia are conceived through IVF.

Jordan was later a patient at Adora Fertility and now has two sons, Ethan and Lincoln, admitting she had "no idea" there were bulk-bill options. She says her heartache was exploited by profit-seeking clinics during her fertility journey.

"I very strongly came to feel that the more times I failed, the more money they made. These private companies are listed on the ASX, they've got shareholders, that's even more disturbing," she said.

Adora has seen a 29 per cent increase in patient numbers over the past 12 months with the biggest spikes in Queensland, Western Australia and New South Wales.

Fertility expert defends need for 'doctor-owned' clinics

Fertility expert Alex Polyakov believes the ability to provide improvements in IVF success rates — 18 per cent in the past decade according to the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners — is largely thanks to "doctor-owned and business-owned" fertility clinics.

"There are subsidies that the government provides for clinics to run, but they are not, in most cases, sufficient to cover the costs, so the majority of clinics are either doctor-owned or corporate-owned," he explained to Yahoo News.

Radical changes in IVF have potential to significantly lower costs

He assured the "sector in Australia is tightly regulated" so clinics are not able to significantly monetise their services to a patient's detriment. However, he hopes further advancements in technology "in the far future" will make all fertility clinics accessible to every Aussie.

"I think there are developments that are taking place that may radically change the face of IVF and may potentially make it a lot cheaper," he said. "I envision that it will be possible to take a little bit of ovarian tissue and get literally hundreds of eggs... results over the years are becoming better, and therefore, it's actually overall getting cheaper."

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