I know I'm a couple of years late on this discussion but I just wanted to say I've just read this with great interest!

DH and I have been debating over whether it's truly worth having PHI. We *will* get slugged for tax if we get rid of it, but tbh it has basically been a big expenditure and of no great benefit to us.

I'm pregnant with my first and desperately wanted to go private - I was determined to have my own room and the privacy I so crave to enjoy my first baby with just my DH for company. I also wasn't keen on my only choice of public hospital. BUT... even with our PHI we haven't been able to afford to go private, with costs of around $5000 out of pocket (cheapest we could find that met our needs) just for the ob, plus scans etc, plus anything I might need in the hospital other than the actual stay itself.

That said, going public has still cost us thousands and I've still got three months to go, but not as much as it would have it we went privately. I'm not too keen on my hospital stay and the whole room sharing thing, but I DID get into a different hospital and actually wish I didn't because they proceeded to put me through as high risk despite freely admitting I'm actually not (it's complicated).

Would I have been better off if we went privately? Maybe. Only time will tell.