Going private + no OB

[Trillian]

Our closest private hospital is terrible on their maternity ward judging by what I've heard - I've not heard a single positive story about being treated well over there. I was so lucky to have a very small district hospital that was just like a private hospital anyway - choice of Dr and single rooms etc.

Mirabelle, I guess another thing is that even though PHI is very exxie, it costs the same for your public hospital stay as well, just that the public hospital tab gets picked up by the tax payer plus. I would be making use of it simply so you get some benefit from your PHI.

ETA - it's handled the exact same way as a private hospital stay - you give them your PHI details and they send the bill to them and depending on your level of cover you may have a gap payment etc - just as you would with a private hospital.

[Olive]

i *think* you just pay your excess probably wrong!!

[visitor1]

Ok....great info and to know this...ill get onto it ASAP and see how to go about it all

[Inanna]

I've never got a bill for anything (except discharge medications which probably won't apply here).

So, for me it's just a $200 excess...

[Trillian]

Most public hospitals will always ask you if you have PHI and encourage you to use it during your stay just to keep the cash coming in. We had PHI when I was pg with Alister but couldn't use it as we hadn't had it long enough, but I would rather use PHI in a public hospital anyway and in this area, the private hospital has no children's ward for some unknown reason, so you go to the public base hospital and just have your own paed etc.

[LionsandBears]

If you want to go private, the thing would be to research private hospitals and Obs. You might like to start with a list from your PHI provider - they have lists of who they deal with. BB is a good resource to research the kind of Ob you'd want (low intervention/breech/high-risk). Then you call for $$ details from Obs and hospitals (after checking what your PHI will cover you for).

e.g. my PHI will cover me for hospital (less $250 excess), including any surgery if needed. Some pathology may be covered, some not. The Ob is covered for in hospital. I think Obs also charge for "pregnancy maintenance", some of which you can get a rebate from Medicare - others can confirm this, never got that far. I'm not sure if anaethetics, including epidural are covered.

I like Flowerchild's idea of having them standing by if necessary, but not having them around otherwise - though it does mean paying for them to do not much. I'd definately have my own private midwife though (heard too many stories about the potluck of hospital midwives)

Some PHI's cover independent midwives

[Mum2SweetCs]

Mirabelle, you get treated exactly the same way in a private hosptial - the money certainly doesn't buy you respect and you are still treated like a number - that's something that doesn't change. If you look into it, some public hospitals do have private rooms.

Public hospitals have private rooms but everyone is treated the same. If all the rooms are filled you will not get your own room even if you went as a private patient.

I also believe (the private hospital I went to) treated me better than how my friends were treated at a public hospital (3 friends went to a public hospital as private patients).

Of course there are bad and good nurses in both hospitals.

I chose private because i am terrified of hospitals and so with private my DH could stay overnight with me and it felt more like a hotel room rather than a hospital (the smell, the commotion)

For my second bub however, i may go public since I hope that I wont be staying there as long as i did for my first bub.

You can do a tour of both hospitals and then just write down the pros and cons of each.

In the end it is your decision and one which will make you feel most comfortable.

Best of luck!

[Mum2SweetCs]

double post

[Mum2SweetCs]

BTW, I wasnt happy with my OB and believe me when i say obs tend to go on alot of SPUR of the MOMENT holidays!

[nellnell]

I went in as a 'private' patient in a public hospital. All rooms were singles and DH was allowed to stay overnight for my entire stay. My public hospital covered ALL costs and I didnt even have to pay my excess. So wonderful.

I even changed our moving plans so I could give birth to my second bub there!

I had a GP and was attended to by wonderful midwives who all had relatively the same philosophy. No OB