Hi there.

We have what's called Medicare which is the Govt health system. It pretty much covers everything associated with the birth but will find yourself paying for things like scans and OB or GP visits along the way. You can then claim a portion of the fee back (about half on average) from Medicare by visiting a branch. You get given cash in hand if you have paid the bill first.

Going public means going to a public hospital for the birth and using whatever midwives and doctors are on hand at the time.

We have some bulk billing clinics which basically have GPs in them and they cost you nothing unless you go after hours (say after 6pm or weekends and even then they will charge $10 or so for the visit). Most of them wont see you for pregnancy though and you will have to either see a GP or an OB. Not all areas have bulk billing clinics.

I'm going public and am 10 weeks 3 days and have had one scan after I had a little spotting a few weeks ago. It was bulk billed even though I was told that I'd have to pay for it. It would have cost $80 had I paid for it. The costs of scans and GP & OB services varies greatly from place to place. My next scan is at 12 weeks for the NT one and I will have to pay for that then claim it back (not sure what it's costing).

It's hard to say how many scans you get in Australia. Some ladies will get 2 throughout their entire pregnancy, others 3 or 4, some have heaps due to complications.

If you go public you do not get a choice to have a C Section - unless you go in as a private patient and pay through the nose for it.... it would cost thousands I would imagine.

You can also take out private health insurance. I think with most of them you have to have it for at least 12 months before any maternity benefits will be paid out so I think that will be an issue for you by the sound of things. Maybe if you have private insurance where you are you can transfer across without penality but I really don't kow.

Public hospitals are perfectly good to give birth at, you just don't get your choice of doctor or fancy food, private rooms etc. Our hospitals offer varying levels of care based on your risk. If you are low risk you can go to any public hospital, if you are medium risk you will have less choice, high risk you will probably only have a choice of two hospitals in your city.

You have to "book in" to hospital here, regardless of if it is a public or private hospital. You go to a booking in appointment at 12 weeks at the hospital and see the midwives. Private hospitals can fill up fast so you need to book early. I don't know if public hospitals have the same issue. What I do know is that you can wait months to see a OB who works from some public hospitals. The first one I went to who was at a small private hospital and a small public hospital I got to see within 2 weeks. The second one I'm still waiting to see and won't get in until I'm 14 weeks. I had to change OB's as the one I went to does not work out of the hospital I chose.... something else you have to watch out for..... I am older and need to make sure they offer a higher level of care the other two hospitals did not offer.

We also have what's called a baby bonus here. It's currently around the $4000 mark. For each baby you have the government gives you $4000. This figure varies from year to year.... not sure what it will be next year. Basically we weren't having enough babies in Australia so they thought they'd chuck some money at us to get the birth rate up and it seems to have worked.