Question about how things are done

[Julie_82]

Hello again,

I don't know if I am pregnant or not, but just out of curiousity I thought I would ask a few things about how things are organised here in Aus. I am not originally from here, so I have no idea about any of this stuff.

1. Who do you go to for checkups, a GP or a midwife or both? Or someone else?
2. Are all pregnancy checkups free?
3. Are all pregnant women offered an ultrasound? If so, when? And if not, where do you go to organise this, and is it free?
4. Is caesarian optional, or do you need a medical reason?

[feeb]

Hi there,

1. Who do you go to for checkups, a GP or a midwife or both? Or someone else? depending on hospital you book into you may see mw or do shared care with gp and only a few appts at hospital
2. Are all pregnancy checkups free? Care is free in a public hospital if you are a permanent resident or citizen
3. Are all pregnant women offered an ultrasound? If so, when? And if not, where do you go to organise this, and is it free? All woman are offered 18 - 20 week scan, others have more scans for reasons of unsure of dates, or combined screening test, or if they have a bleed or if low lying placenta shows up on 20 week scan, everywhere I know you pay for scan and clain some back via medicare
4. Is caesarian optional, or do you need a medical reason? Going public a cs generally not an option unless mediclly indcated or previous cs

hope that helps and good luck

[Peg]

Hello again,

I don't know if I am pregnant or not, but just out of curiousity I thought I would ask a few things about how things are organised here in Aus. I am not originally from here, so I have no idea about any of this stuff.

1. Who do you go to for checkups, a GP or a midwife or both? Or someone else?
2. Are all pregnancy checkups free?
3. Are all pregnant women offered an ultrasound? If so, when? And if not, where do you go to organise this, and is it free?
4. Is caesarian optional, or do you need a medical reason?

Hi,
Im in Vic, so it could be slightly different in different states.

1. You have to go to a gp first to get a confirmation that you a pg. They generally do a full blood screen and test for HIV & Hep B & C.
If you are pregnant, your doctor will give you a referral for an ultrasound to determine gestation. Then around 12-14 weeks you'll go back and get a referral for a hospital of your choice. Then you'll be contacted by the hospital and the midwives will make an appt for you and you can decide what sort of care you want to do, either shared care (where you see them one month and your gp the next) or you can choose to see only the midwives if your pregnancy has no issues.

2. If you are on medicare and using public hospital, then yes, all checkups are paid by medicare. If you are seeing a private ob, youll have to pay the ob fees (and get 1/2 back from medicare)

3. Yes all pregnant women will get a referal for an ultrasound. One in the early stages to check for gestation and the other around 20weeks for a checkup of the baby. Both will be paid by medicare if you are on medicare.

4. C-sections will always be offered if you have already had a c-section. I dont know for sure if you can opt for an elective, but i cant imagine why not. Some have said there must be a medical reason for it but i dont know if thats true or not. Best to ask the hospital.

[Traveller]

I am in Vic too and is obviously changes from hospital to hospital.

1) I was offered the choice of GP shared care (shared with midwives), midwife led care, or obstetric care.

2) All hospital checkups are free, but if you choose gp shared care you will have to pay your GP for visits to them, depending on if they are bulk billing or not.

3)Where I am I was only offered a 12 and 20 week scan, either or both can always be declined if you wish. An earlier scan would only be offered if I was bleeding or unsure of my dates.

4) Generally in public hospitals a caesarean is not offered without medical reason due to the higher costs and risks associated with it. However emotional state will be taken into consideration when making this decision and genuine childbirth phobia is usually an indication for a surgical birth.

[Julie_82]

Cool, thanks Definitely having CS if it turns out I'm pregnant, I have some serious mental issues with the idea of squeezing a kid out....

I am a permanent resident, so no probs there

[allycat06]

Hello again,

I don't know if I am pregnant or not, but just out of curiousity I thought I would ask a few things about how things are organised here in Aus. I am not originally from here, so I have no idea about any of this stuff.

1. Who do you go to for checkups, a GP or a midwife or both? Or someone else?
2. Are all pregnancy checkups free?
3. Are all pregnant women offered an ultrasound? If so, when? And if not, where do you go to organise this, and is it free?
4. Is caesarian optional, or do you need a medical reason?

Hi there,
I just read that you want an elective C sect so i'll answer your q's with reference to that, I'll presume your reasons are more personal rather than medical? With an elective c sect for non medical reason your only real option is to go privately with an OB, public hospitals will only accept you if there is a medical reason (previous c sect, gestational diabetes, pre-eclampsia, breeech presentation etc) but they could accept you for psychological reasons as well, wouldn't hurt to ask.

1. So first you go to your GP for a referral to an OB. You can do research and pick one or get your GP to help you choose. You'll have to find one who'll be happy to do an elective c sect. Each OB will have a few hospitals which they deliver at so that could influence or decision. You may choose to be a private patient in a public hosp, private patient in a private hosp or if you have no health cover go private and pay upfront.

2. Pregnancy care is only free if you are a public patient in a public hospita. Let's say you decide to give birth in a private hosp with an OB. You'll have to pay OB fees (these vary greatly but I'd say $4000 is an average figure in Melbourne, you get some back from Medicare), Ultrasounds (you can claim some of that back on medicare, my 20 week one cost $175 and got about $90 back I think) and there could be out of pocket expenses at the hospital as well plus your excess if you have health insurance. Blood tests are bulk billed i'm pretty sure.

3. Your OB will advise you when to get ultrasounds but you'll have to pay for them.

4. I outlined that at the start for you

Hope that's helpful

[Julie_82]

Thanks for that

So the only way to get a cs for personal reasons is to go private?

I'm on Medicare, but I have no health cover, as I wasn't exactly expecting this at this time (not that I know yet).

$4k doesn't sound too bad I suppose... is that just for the cs? Or for the whole process?

What's the difference between being private in public hospital or private in private hospital?

(Where I'm from all health care is public and all pregnancy stuff is free, but they don't do elective cs. There are some private medical centres, but you'd only go there if there is a waiting list at public ones, and you don't get anything covered.)

[allycat06]

Yep for personal reasons private is the only way to go. $4000 is only the OB fees (they do differ greatly, but that is how much mine charged when I initially went private). If you don't have health insurance and you give birth in a private hosp the expenses could be up to $10,000 (not including the OB fees) especially for a c sect as then there are theatre fees, anesthetist fees, the actual stay in hosp and all that jazz.

Basically private hospitals are just nicer looking and you have more chance of getting a private room. The care is probably the same standard. Public hospitals usually have better facilities in terms of the lastest equipment, top class NICU etc as they get more funding from the government. But they'll usually turf you out quicker due to lack of beds. I'm not entirely sure if you could go as a private patient in a public hosp for an elective c sect (pretty sure you still need insurance to do that)...maybe someone else can answer that for me?

[Little Chicken]

Yep, to go private in a public hospital you do need private health cover otherwise you will be charged for everything. I would say $10,000 is very conservative for private hospital with no cover because they will charge for EVERYTHING. Every pill, medication, blood test, meal etc., and probably looking at at least 5 -6 days in hospital post CS. I remember working in a an operating theatre when we had an overseas patient in (no medicare, no health cover), we had to write down everything we used, including gloves and swabs so they could bill the patient. You could try calling the accounts departments of some private hospitals to get an idea of costs to see how much you need.

[allycat06]

Thought I'd also add that on top the $4000 (antenatal fee) for an OB would be their delivery fee (the fee they charge for coming to the hospital, in your case to perform surgery), usually they don't even mention it as health insurance would cover this but i'd say that'd be another $2000-3000. Some of the antental fee is rebateable from Medicare but not sure about the delivery.

[Julie_82]

Is it too late to get health cover if I'm already pregnant?

That's ridiculous, I would even consider giving birth naturally to not have to pay that...

[Little Chicken]

I would think it is, most funds have at least a 6 - 12 month exclusion period. But you could try.

[feeb]

Most PHI have a 12 month waiting period for pregnancy.

As others have said u will pay a fortune.

Obs is around $3000 - $4000 depending
anethatist $800 - $1000
pead $200 - $400
hospital bed approx $600 a day

just to give you an idea of someone with no cover, (if you had cover you would get some back from medicare for ob and some from PHI and medicare for pead and anethatist.)

[Julie_82]

I have Medicare cover, just not health insurance cover.

I have actually decided that it is worth it, there is no way I am giving birth vaginally. I will try to go public first and tell them if they won't let me do a cs I will go private, but that I would rather not pay the 10k, so it would be nice if they would let me have a public cs.

Never know, might find someone who will allow it. If not, I will pay for it and consider it money well spent.

Thanks for all your help