To snip or not to snip..?

Bulk billing and medicare rebates are two different things.

It is up to the individual doctor as to whether they will bulk bill their patients for any particular procedure. You will find that some GPs will bulk bill for certain procedures where the medicare rebate is somewhat related to the actual cost of the procedure, such as routine consultations or some very minor surgical procedures. The problem with bulk billing arises because most medicare rebates are not an accurate reflection of the cost of the procedure; they are designed to offset the costs of a procedure, rather than pay for it completely. Bulk billing in these cases leaves the doctor our of pocket. I think that it is very unlikely that any doctor would bulk bill a circumcision, becauee as explained, the total cost of the procedure can go into the $1000.00s depending on the method of anaesthesia, whereas the rebate is only $1-200.

I'm not sure about private health insurance.

My DS was done by my obs in hospital while we were still in after bub was born , I think he charged $45 and I was only out of pocket by $11 from memory but I can't remember if it was medicare who paid or PHI. I now a number of obs who do it around here and also some peads.

I just called our PHI (GUHealth Corporate) and they will only cover it if it is done in hospital - they will not cover it if it is done in a Dr's surgery and only if you have premium level cover.

When did it first start getting done by Drs?
When Dad was a child in London everyone got it done by members of the Jewish community regardless of their religion. Maybe when birth moved into hospital circumcision did too?

So help me God, but I think the tomatoes are about to head my way...

...but circumcision is a medical procedure that holds with it the possiblity of serious complications. I'm quite glad it is now done by trained surgical practitioners.

While I will gladly acknowledge that there are probably Rabbis out there who perform very safe and competent circumcisions, I think that there is simply not enough supervision or regulation for the practice to be considered safe among non-medical staff.

Interesting point Michael. Do they have to undergo some training to be able to do it? I would assume they would have to have some idea of how to do it?

ETA - Dach, maybe there is a link between the two? Would be interesting to find out.

I'm not saying that it's a bad thing that it moved into hospitals Micheal, just wondering when.

Rabbis have been performing circumcisions for something like 6000 years Micheal, long before the department of health was established. TBH in the absense of a Dr I would trust my child's safety to a rabbi. In fact since some Rabbi's perform more circumcisions than I have hot dinners they might be a safer option.

ETA - Trillian, do you think any parent would entrust their baby to someone who didn't undergo training ;)

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And more to the point - circumcision is still covered by Medicare. The site you posted earlier - it lists the rebates for the procedure.

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Well, it seems the people in hospital - at least four that I can recall - gave us the wrong information. (Why does that not surprise me.)