First Time and Soooo Confussed

[ViannaM]

Hi All,
I have just found out I am almost 7 weeks pregnent. Unexpected, however very exciting but confussing too.
So have been looking into Hospitals, OB's etc...I don't have the right level of cover for Private Health.
I would like to go to a Private Obstetrician and Possibly a Private Hospital (in South East Melbourne)
But I'm so confussed about fee's, what costs are involved and whats claimable through Medicare or even Tax

Just wondering if some can point me in the right direction?
Thanks

[~TT40~]

hi Vianna,
Congrats on the pg!! I cant really help you because I dont know much about that stuff. but just wanted to welcome you the fourm and say congrats!!!

[berrme]

Hi Vianna,
Congrats on the pg.
Without private cover you will be up for almost all the hospital fees yourself, medicare covers very little. I think my statements from MBF said that they had paid out around $3000 for my VBs and closer to $6000 for my C/S.
The ob fees are up to you irrelevant of private health cover, but you get about half back from medicare. If you reach your safety net then you get almost all of your ob fees back. If you ask the obs they will have bool;ets detailing fees and medicare rebates for each thing.

[crumpet]

congrats on ur pregnancy!

my hospital stay for a VB was $6000 but it was covered by my phi, so if u dont have the cover you would be up for that sort of fee plus ur OB fee's which can be anywhere from $2500-$6000+ some of which u can get back from medicare...

once u hit medical spending of $2k you can claim some back on tax, for some reasone i thought 20% but that seems to high?

then there may be paed fee's if bub requires on, anesthetic fee's if u have a epidural, etc....

[ViannaM]

Thanks all for your input! Would still love some more!
Would also love any stories or experiences in public hospital?
What chances would I get of a room to myself and is it really true that you can only stay for 48 hours??

[sloane]

hi vianni, welcome to bb & congrats on your PG i hope you find a wealth of information on bb - i know it was a lifesaver for me when i was PG with my DS!

i had my DS in a public hospital in melbourne & will be having #2 at a public hospital as well. the biggest negative for me was the waiting time for each appointment. i would regularly wait up to an hour & a half for my appt. i went to a big tertiary hospital & was in the high risk category so that meant i had to see obs/GP-obs. i mention that because a friend who has gone through the birth centre at the same public hospital didn't have the same waiting times.

apart from that i was mostly happy with my experience. i always felt that i would receive the best possible care & that they had all the facilities to cope with pretty much any eventuality. the midwives during labour were fantastic & the ob that did the assisted delivery was great at doing everything possible to avoid a c-section (a positive for me). i ended up with a room to myself - a complete fluke really but nice all the same.

i'm not sure if there is a max time you can stay but i left about 38 hours after giving birth but that was my choice - i asked to leave because i wanted to get home. they hadn't been able to complete some tests so a midwife visited me at home the next day to do them. they also sent another midwife a few days later to see how i was going - and to help with breastfeeding.

i didn't have to pay for anything (well, the tv if i'd wanted it ) and i think the care i received was pretty good. overall i wasn't unhappy with the care but could have lived without the waiting time for appts!

[~Hestia~]

Hi ViannaM, congratulations on your pregnancy!
I have health insurance but I found the whole thing pretty confusing and ended up going public anyway To answer your question about public - couldn't fault it in my experience. My hospital had about 6 private rooms which were all being used when I had my son. However I was put in a double room with no one else in it so still didn't have to share! I only stayed overnight but am pretty sure I could've stayed for 3 nights if I wanted.

I'm having this bub at the same hospital and hoping to go home on the same day. I am going through a program where you have the same midwife for all appointments, as well as for labour etc. Your local public hospital may offer something similar if you're wanting that continuity of care. Good luck!

[PumpkinZulu]

You've been given a whole heap of great advice and suggestion already, just thought I would throw in my own experience

I went through the public system and found it top notch. I went through a Homebirth program run by a public hospital, which was fantastic. All my appointments were at home, my midwives came to us. They provided a birth pool in our home too. I ended up giving birth in the hospital, and the care there was great. We still had our Homebirth midwife with us, and I chose to discharge 9 hours after giving birth. As HotI said, looking at a private midwife to be with you in the hospital or even at home is a great idea, as a private midwife can do your appointments at home and you can build a beautiful and trusting relationship with them, hospital or home Welcome to BB.