management fee/medicare safety net

[Mrs McAwesome]

yeah i am grateful for the fact he is cheaper than most otherwise we would have had no choice but to go public.
Hollybolly - you must be on cloud nine. congrats on your bubs after 6 ivf cycles this little peanut was destined to be yours.

[MummyTummy]

I asked my ob about it too and they said they couldn't give the invoice until you are 20 weeks. Luckily I scraped in in the last week of December, and luckily they are going to let me see the locum Ob while mine is on holidays!! I see him on the 30th Dec.... just by the skin of my teeth! What a PITA it is!

[crumpet]

i spoke to my OB about this yesterday......
i will be 20 weeks on the 7th of jan.....

they said as long as im going in for a appt before the 1st of jan they can invoice me and i can pay before the 1st of jan.....
so im going in to see him for my 20 week appt at 19 weeks and then i can claim it....or so he tells me!!

if i cant claim it ill be out of pocket $3000 ish...

[Hollybolly]

Mrs Hendo - Thanks Its still sinking in, but it feels amazing! Have to keep pinching myself to make sure I'm not waking up from a dream anytime soon

Crumpet... ooh, thats interesting! My specialist said not to lose hope yet as they may change the way they itemise/ charge it to help with OOP costs.... I can't believe how close we all are!!!
They should have a period of time afterwards (but I guess whos to say what period of time - there'll always be someone who will ''just'' miss out I guess )

[~Phoenix~]

oh I won't complain about my Ob fees - were $125 first appointment, $1850 OOP at my 20 week appointment and rest of appointments are bulk billed I've got some kind of bonus system on my private health and as I haven't used hospital at all have no excess to pay when I go in.

I rang medicare yesterday to find out where I was with the safety net and I have only used about $400 so far, which leaves me about another $600 till I reach it (think it's $1100 as I don't have health care card). My 19 week scan will also go towards this before I make payment.

I asked her how it works if my OOP is $1850 and I reach threshold but of course she couldn't give me a straight answer except that she thinks I should get a slightly higher rebate guesss I have to wait and see.

[HollyC]

I think that private OBs are going to have to change the way they charge us to suit the new system.

I was trying to figure out the changes and reading the government health website. It said that OBs have been taking advantage of the safety net and they are trying to stop that. So basically, once we reach the safety net limit (and the management fee well and truly guarantees that) OBs are charging more because it doesn't come out of patients' pockets so we don't complain.

So I'm hoping that we don't all end up worse off in the future, but I suppose it will take some time for things to get sorted out. Not great for all the women who just miss out on claiming this year

[melbel]

It's funny how narrow minded the governments accounting system can be hey..... I personally don't think most obs are over charging..some are (some suoper exxy city obs are rorting and ruining it for eveyone else) but we forget the extra expenses that obs have abive and beyond normal medicos. for example for an OB to gain public liability insurance is in the vicinity of $90,000 a year and thats after the govt subsidy. Also the average one would be paying for reception staff in the vicinity of $100,000 a year all up when you account for super and workcare levies etc. Say one patient pays $5000 for her pregnancy, thats like 40 women a year they have to see for free before they start to even look at pulling a wage for themselves. Yes they are making money but I dont think they (or most of them anyways) are rorting anything like the govt is claiming.....JMHO....