Parents-to-be choosing cheaper option

[krisp]

Cai, why on earth would we shoot you?

Choosing a private hopsital and private OB is a perfectly legitimate and normal way for a woman to have her baby! It's not something to be ashamed of or keep a secret. Whilst getting to know the MW through a birth centre is appealing to me I'm not one for public shared wards in a hospital and am certainly not embarassed that I have again chosen private care to have my precious little girl. My chosen OB is a really wonderful caring woman who I feel totally comfortable with and who supports my decision of a VBAC 100%, the hospital looks nice and it's on the campus of Monash which has excellent NICU facilities should something go wrong. So all in all I'm very happy wth my decision to be a private patient, in fact I wouldn't have it any other way!!

[BeautifulMadness]

i dont have any private health.. but when iw as living with my pareants i had to have my apendenix out and went under private health and i stil had a shared room only advantage was the same Dr who i saw twice lol

So i dont think id go private health...for one cant afford and two there is simply no advantages..for me

[Ca Plane Pour Moi]

Interestingly, DH has said we're going private for our next baby - he felt the way he was treated antenatally (he felt very unwelcome at all the hospital appointments and scans, tbh the midwives were very rude to him and pretty much ignored him, one even asked if he was the father!) and the way I was treated post-natally on the wards then we're going private. TBH I think it's moot as I'm not going to involve the medical profession at all (not even for scans just so they can't date and induce me!) but that's by the by.

[Yarrawin]

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.