Hi Emma
I am due to have my baby in Jan 2009. We live in a small country town but have opted to go for a private hospital 2 1/2 hours away.I have been travelling to see my OB and don't really have an issue with that. Although you can do what is called 'shared care' with your OB and a local GP to cut down on travel.I usually have 14 hour labours so I am not concerned about having the baby by the side of the road. If my labour was quicker, there are plenty of smaller hospitals en route that we could stop at.
I spoke to a midwife at our local Hospital and she said if I went into labour I could call an ambulance and they would take me to the Private Hospital. This is probably because I have to have a ceasar for medical reasons. I don't know if they would do this if it was an ordinary delivery.
I really like to idea of being away from "friends" after the birth as I was very tired with my first two and just wanted to be left alone to sleep.Most hospitals will let your partner room in with you if you are concerned about travel. Don't know if this would apply to kids as well, you may have to check.
I had private rooms both times in our local public hospital as there weren't many people there at the time. If you are in a bigger public hospital that is very busy you can go in as a 'paying patient' if you have private cover. This does not mean that you have to pay for anything, just that they will get a rebate from your insurance company. Usually if you do this you will get prefference for any available private rooms.A friend of mine without insurance went in to a large public hospital; as a public patient and was put in a shared room with a creepy druggie type, so if you go public you may need to be prepared to share a room with someone undesirable.She said it was so awful that she went home the next day.You will get a private room in a private Hospital as long as one is available. In any case if you do have to share you are unlikely to get a creepy druggie type as they usually don't have private health insurance.(sorry I don't mean to sound horrible about this, but it's just the way it is.)
As for you health fund, it depends what level of cover you have. If you call them and explain the situation they will be able to tell you what out of pocket expenses you may incur.
Hope it goes well for you
Kind regards
Lisa B.