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.