kt - I've been doing a fair bit of research on this too. We're with Medibank Private and from memory they do offer some assistance with ART after a waiting period of 6 months. To what degree I'm not sure. My gf did say she didn't bother mucking around with private claims because Medicare take care of you.

Like what Willow and Bec have mentioned, you do get a decent rebate from Medicare.

Maybe you can ask your clinic if they have some paperwork which might give you a bit of an idea. I have all the guff MIVF gave me and it is helpful to see deposit req'd and out of pocket in black and white. One bonus is at least we are getting in nice and early in the year that way we'll get maximum bang for our buck over the threshold!

I read on the handouts they gave me, we wouldn't need to pay the total say $3800 and then claim back, we would be asked to pay the out of pocket difference upfront etc

When you are certain that you are going ahead with the IVF you do have a couple of appts, one with a councellor and in MIVF case, accounts appt and one with the nurses all on same day. I'm sure that at some stage you could discuss the financial side with them. Not everyone has thousands of $ just laying around waiting for something to spend it on (and quickly!)

It wouldn't hurt to give them a call