Um, I am no help with the birth centres. But if you use the public hosiptal system then yes Medicare covers pretty much all of your preg & birth. Things you will need to pay for are things like Ultrasounds. some places do Bulk bill (medicare) others like the one I use in NSW doesn't but I only pay the gap, which is say the ultrasound costs $150. You pay that at the time of your appointment & then take your recipt to a medicare office & you can claim part of the cost back. So you may get say $80 back. If you use a place that only makes you pay the gap then you pay say $65 and then medicare sends you out a cheque made out to the ultrasound mob, which you then take into them. Does that make sence??

other things that may be a cost to you are if you use a GP who does not bulk bill.

I would imagine if the the birth center says no charges to public patients then they probably do use the medicare system, But just phone & check.

Someone else will probably be able to answer your questions better.