[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Hyung-kwon] Gwangyang City is actively implementing support policies to help infertile couples who wish to have children.
The city had been providing procedure cost support to legally married couples with a median income of 180% or less to alleviate the financial burden on infertile couples, but has expanded the support target to include de facto infertile couples in marital-like relationships.
Additionally, the age limit for support was previously restricted to women under 44 years old, but has been extended to include those aged 45 and older.
For infertile couples exceeding health insurance coverage, the city provides additional procedure cost support of up to 2 million KRW per cycle from its own budget, and next year plans to provide an additional 200,000 KRW per infertile couple to support infertility diagnostic testing, aiming to advance treatment timing and enable the birth of healthy children.
Thanks to Gwangyang City's support policies, infertile couples in Gwangyang received procedure cost support for 42 cases in 2018, 153 cases last year, and 156 cases up to October this year. Through this, a total of 121 couples succeeded in pregnancy: 18 couples in 2018, 65 couples last year, and 38 couples up to October this year.
Kim Sun-ja, head of the childbirth support team, stated, “We will continue to develop and expand support policies that provide more tangible benefits to infertile couples and their families.”
For inquiries related to infertility, contact the Childbirth Support Team of the Integrated Health Support Division at Gwangyang City Public Health Center.
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