But assisted reproductive technology treatment came with a price that increased after the federal government imposed a cap on Medicare payments for in-vitro fertilisation.

Figures to be published today show that the number of women accessing IVF fell by 13 per cent in Australia in the year after the cap was introduced - the first drop in 30 years.

Mr Glover, 27, of Monash, had aggressive treatment for non-Hodgkin lymphoma when he was a teenager.

In 2009, Mr Glover discovered he had an extremely low sperm count, probably related to the treatment.

The couple underwent IVF at Genea in Deakin, where it took several cycles and a miscarriage before they conceived Lucas, who is now 10 months old.

''Every time we had a failed IVF cycle, the mental strain on that side of things was absolutely horrible,'' Mr Glover said.

The couple needed family help to pay for the treatment and believe Medicare should offer more assistance.

''It's a huge cost and it's not something you do for fun. There should be a higher rebate from Medicare, although you can understand why there's not,'' Mrs Glover said.

The couple praised the care they had received at Genea, formerly known as Sydney IVF, which is about to celebrate 10 years of providing services in Canberra.

Professor Michael Chapman of IVF Australia said the Medicare changes had been a false economy imposed on people wanting to have children.

''A change in government policy that cost something in the order of $50 million resulted in 1200 children not being conceived who would have been conceived,'' Professor Chapman said.

''I don't think that saving was justified, particularly because if you look at it in the long term, within three years of that child having a job at the age of 21 they would probably pay off the cost of their IVF cycle.''

The president of the Fertility Society of Australia Mark Bowman said the Medicare changes had increased the cost of an IVF cycle from about $1500 to $3000.

But Associate Professor Bowman said there was a small recovery in the number of women using IVF since last year.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Ageing said there had been a rise in people having assisted reproductive technology treatment in 2009 before Medicare payments were capped, and there has since been a return to service levels before the change.

She said Australia had the most generous public subsidy for assisted reproductive technology in the world, with no restrictions on maternal age, marital status, social health issues such as body mass index and smoking, or the number of cycles covered by Medicare.