EPF Now Allows Couples With Fertility Issues To Withdraw Their Savings For Treatment
In-vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatments can range between RM4,000 to RM30,000 per cycle.
By May Vin Ang — 11 Sep 2020, 05:22 PM
The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) has created a new option that will allow couples struggling with subfertility to withdraw a part of their savings for treatment
As an initiative tabled in Budget 2020 and announced in October last year, EPF members will now be able to withdraw from Account 2 of their savings to help in the payment of their subfertility treatment.
Accoring to the EPF website, the fund will be approving withdrawals for these three treatment options:
- Intrauterine insemination (IUI)
- In-vitro fertilisation (IVF)
- Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI)
EPF chief executive officer Tunku Alizakri Alias said that Malaysia is facing a continuous trend of falling fertility rates
"One of the ways to address this matter includes encouraging couples to have more children through medical assistance," he said, when the initiative was first announced.
However, he was aware that subfertility treatment costs were extremely high, with IVF treatments in Malaysia costing between RM4,000 to RM30,000 per cycle.
"Taking note of this, the EPF will be creating a new option under Account 2 for withdrawals for subfertility treatments."
The EPF withdrawal can be done individually or as a joint withdrawal from both accounts of a legally-married couple
The amount that can be claimed is either the actual medical cost of the treatment or the entire savings in the applicant's Account 2, whichever is lower.
Those interested must provide supporting documents of the procedures and medications required and signed off by their doctors before submission to EPF.
The payment can be claimed either before or after the EPF member has undergone treatment - if medical bills are outstanding, the withdrawal will go to the medical instituition; but if the bills have been paid for, the withdrawal will go to the applicant.
For more information, visit the official EPF website here.
