OLDER women could be denied access to publicly funded IVF andfertility treatments could be means tested under cuts in the federalbudget.

More than 3 per cent of Australian babies are born withthe help of reproductive technologies, but the Government isconsidering paring back financial assistance to would-be mums to slashthe $319 million Medicare safety net.

It is understood Labor'seconomic advisers are pushing for a cap on the number of publiclyfunded IVF cycles, unlimited at present.

Sources say that means testing, and restricting access on the basis of age, are also on the table.

The cost of the scheme has risen by 28 per cent since 2007. Today IVFand obstetric services account for about 44 per cent of the annualtaxpayer-funded bill. The safety net, introduced by the Howardgovernment in 2004, covers 80 per cent of out-of-pocket medical costsabove $1111.60 in any given year, or $555.70 for those on lower incomes.

According to one estimate, the cost of obstetric and gynaecologicalservices has increased by more than 400 per cent since the scheme wasintroduced in 2004.

In 2007, Health MinisterNicola Roxon pledged from Opposition there would be no tampering withthe safety net. But yesterday her spokesman declined to comment.

In 2005 the Howard government tried to cut costs by limiting funding tothree IVF cycles a year for women up to the age of 42, or three intotal for older women. Then health minister Tony Abbott incurred thewrath of the IVF lobby and the government beat a retreat.

"Ifyou are a fortysomething woman, who is desperate to have a baby, andthe government decides the rules are going to be changed to make itharder for you to pay for this, you get very, very unhappy," Mr Abbottsaid yesterday. "It [the proposal] fell foul of the `I'm over 40 and Ineed my baby' brigade."

Access Australia,representing IVF users, has urged members to flood the offices of thePrime Minister and Treasurer Wayne Swan with emails opposing the cuts.

Access chief executive Sandra Dill said infertility was a medicalcondition like any other on which Medicare funds were spent and shouldnot be singled out. She said means testing or restricting publicfunding would make IVF affordable only for the wealthy, even though theproblem affected up to one in six Australians.

President of the National Association of Specialist Obstetricians andGynaecologists, Andrew Pesce, said spending on IVF had risen because ithad become the treatment of choice for infertility, but previously itwas one option among several, including surgery.