Wow.. Interesting reading the different stories here..

I think it's really different for individual OB's how they charge.

Mine was a flat fee at 20 weeks ($3500). I was not charged at any of my appointments other than Medicare (just like going to my GP). So the only thing I paid my OB was the 20 week fee. Because of the safety net we got a very large portion of that back so were only out about $500 for that fee.

You do need to take into account though that with a private OB you also get private fees for the rest of the items such as ultrasounds, blood tests etc. Because we had to have CVS and I ended up with GD our additional expenses were higher than I had anticipated. I also had an epi which cost us and you don't get alot of that back. Plus DD was in nursery for a night which majority was paid for by my health fund but we still got a small charge for that. I only had to pay the hospital my nighly excess of $50 plus we attended an antenatal class at the hospital so there was a separate charge for that.

All in all though I would go private again as I got the best service and attention and my hospital was fabulous.