I too had my 1st born in a Private Hospital and loved every bit of it. My baby was born 4 weeks early via C/S due to complications with me and he spent 4 days in the special care nursery. I loved the fact that I had a private room and that my DH could come and go whenever he pleased. He often didn't come in until 9 or 10 at night and would stay until 1 or 2 in the morning due to his work etc.
Yes it cost us some money to go private but that didn't bother us.My Ob charged about $170 for initial visit and then I was bulk billed until 20 weeks and then I had to pay $1800 and got 80% back through Medicare. I paid for my scans and blood tests and claimed those back through Medicare too. It then cost me $200 excess to stay in the hospital and my health fund covered everything there ie theatre fee, anathesist(sp)special care nursery for DS and 1 week stay for me.
If I didn't have complications I think I would still go Private but thats just my personal opinion. Good luck with whichever way you decide to go
i suppose that there are many things to consider when making the decision to public or private.
i recommend checking out the services available at each.
Pros (IMO) for Private: As a general rule, private can give you a room to yourself (unless it is mega busy!). it can also give you a longer stay (5ish days), hubby can usually stay overnight at least once post birth. because they do tend to be smaller (and in my experience) you might find that you get better access to the on-call lactation consultant/midwives while you stay there. also, some private hossy's have hotel transfer (like to the hyatt etc) which i have heard are really relaxing while still maintaining full medical backup and midwifery support. Also, going private means that you see the same OB for each pg visit, although his/her presence isnt garuanteed at the birth (they all tend to do public duty/go on holidays LOL!)
On the downside, private costs, public doesnt! we paid nearly $4k upfront. You do need to put in a form if you do decide to go private (i recommend it at least lol) for the medicare levy threshold (not sure if that is the right name, but they will know what you are talking about). and like Rumpleteaser mentioned once you go over the 1500 you get around 80% back.
the BIG issue with private are the high intervention rates (ie ceseareans). because private are usually less well equipped for full-blown emergency situations, they do have really strict policy regarding birth and how long it takes. and this has bred a culture of intervention (in my experience it was an uphill battle to refuse pain-relief...which i just wasnt prepared for as they pushed this on me once i was in labour!).
Also, you are NOT garuanteed to have to your OB there. so despite paying squidloads of cash there will still be the probabilty of a stranger helping you deliver.
Pros for Public: They are equipped for pretty much every situation that might arise if the pregnancy/birth doesnt go to plan. so if bubs decides to make an early arrival, there is no risk of them being transferred away from you (which could be the case in a private).
Public hospitals have lower intervention rates! you may find that you are able to stick your birth plan with alot more success and avoid the pressure to 'perform' to the clock when birthing.
Public is FREE!
Some public hospitals have birth centres!!!!! (this is where i will try to go next time!).
On the downside, the biggest IMO is the feeling of non-continuity of care. but many hossy's are trying to change this by undertaking new models of midwifery team care (where you are looked after by a team of 3 so are garuanteed to know at least one person in the birth room.
it is a public hospital and space is an issue. so shared rooms are the norm (unless you are at the birth centre or transferred from a birth centre where they try their uptmost to room you solo).
there can be really long waits for appointments (a couple of hours at some is not unheard of!).
In any case, i would take a really close look at what each offers and what you would like to have at hand, and also, it might be worth considering what kind of support you want, i highly recommend the services of a birth support/advocate type person like a doula/ind midwife. they can really be amazing source of support and help guide you through some of these massive decisions. but that is JMO of course lol!
I went private with DD, because I just thought that's what you did when you had PHI. i had a great ob and she didn't charge a gap nor any mid preg management fee. My most expensive outlay for the hospital stay was the aneasthetist and the pead (PHI doesn't cover you until you actually get to the hospital). Only a portion of each visit/scan is covered by medicare so yes you do have to outlay a lot. Also the midwives in the delivery suite - you never even meet them until you're in labour. How can you know that oyu will work well together or even feel comfortable?
With DS I wen though the public hospital (in a small town now and that's all there is for 200km) I saw the midwives. I was highrisk thoughout and I had fantastic care that was personal and continuous - probably more so than with the private ob. The midwives in the clinic looked after me and my baby throughout.
I used phi at the hossy and had a private room and that covered my theatre costs as well.
I would use the public system with just my PHI at the hospital again.
I had DS at a private hospital in Brisbane and other than $60 for the OB visits it cost me nothing extra except for scans and blood tests but I figured I would have to pay for them in the public system anyway.
With DD again went private, the OB fees were a little higher but we did get some of that back from medicare I think??? I don't remeber there being any other expenses other than a contribution to PLI which I think was maybe $300, it certainly wasn't a lot.
For me it was worth it as we spend it on the fees each month so we might as well use it. It gave me a longer recovery time in hospital to rest and bond with bub until I had to go home to the day to day stuff and I got to choose my dr. The double beds and rooming in with Dh was an added bonus.
i had private health cover but opted to go public hospital purely cause the reputation of the public hospital in the large town i live in was better than the private hospital here, example the baby care unit was more updated with equip, etc ...
so, i went into a public hospital as a ** private patient ** which meant i would have first choice of a private room (if there was a private room left available hour of birth) ... which i did end up getting (and if you don't the hospital will reimburse you) ... the public hospital here was encouraging private health insurance users to use their hospital so i was given the choice of a large summed gift voucher eg, for use at a day spa, etc ... i chose a $500 gift voucher for a local baby shop
i was a patient part of what's called a Primary Midwifery Care Program whereas there are 4 midwives in this team, you meet all 4 but 2 are particular close to looking after you during your pregnancy ... one of which is allocated to be at your birth but if she can't for whatever reason her partner midwife will be there at your birth.
i was also a high-risk patient and was given such brilliant care with the midwives & if i needed to see a OB i could if any concerns occurred.
***** SO, THAT'S ANOTHER OPTION FOR YOU TO LOOK INTO if the public hospital near you has the " Primary Midwifery Care Program "
I've done both public and private with my own ob and would choose private any day. The standard of care of me post birth at the private was heaps better than the public and there were no problems with DH coming and going as he pleased, even though I was in a private room both times stupid visiting rules at the public hospital. We needed NICU care both times too and the care at the private was much better because NICU was within the maternity ward and not separate as it was at the public.
We have top PHI and the only OOP was for the ob's premium which was due at 20 odd weeks, but that put us over the Medicare Safety Net threshold so we got a lot of it back anyway. I think we were only OOP by about $1000 in the end, but it does vary from dr to dr.
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stupid visiting rules at the public hospital. We needed NICU care both times too and the care at the private was much better because NICU was within the maternity ward and not separate as it was at the public.
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