Public or Private - I'm torn!

Hi ladies,

I'm sure there are a thousand different threads on this topic. I'm just so 50/50 on the public/private debate. And I know there are many factors which I haven't even considered.

DH and I have private insurance. My sister tells me if we have private insurance, we'd be mad not to use it, and if we decide to go public, we'd be using a bed that someone who doesn't have private ins might need.

I understand it's good to have an OB if there are complications, but how is anyone ever meant to know (early on) if there will be?

I'd love to go to the RBH (Brisbane) to get into the birth centre, which is by ballot for a healthy pregnancy. And I don't think it really bothers me if I'm in a shared room if I don't get into the birth centre.

Am I missing something major that will make me think differently?

I have private health.
I chose to have both babies public.

I like the supports and the backup the large tertiary public hospitals have.
I also choose midwife care not doctors so i didnt see a dr with even birth (#2 was at home after all anyhow!).

So i figure what is the point paying for an ob when i want midwife care.

My sister chose private - and didnt even see her ob.
the midwifes looked after her until it was time for a c-s and then the ob came in.

SHe will go public next time too.

I have always had a private room for both babies.

I've got private health too, but chose public

Everyone to their own, but in the end i just can't justify spending soo much money on seeing a private ob, when i can see a public ob for free? Would rather put all the upfront and ongoing costs towards the baby.

I shared my room with DD, and i'll be honest, it was a pain in the butt- but not that big of a pain in the butt for me to choose private second time round ;)

Goodluck with your decision - but by no means don't think that public health is second to private (i had complications after having DD, and had to be rushed into emergency theatre, i was later told had i been at the private hospital, they would have transfered me anyway).

Its a personal choice - do what you feel comfortable with!

I have private health insurance but chose to go public and ended up getting into the rbh birth centre and had DD there. I don't think that you should go private purely because you have private health insurance and the idea that you would be taking someone else's 'spot.' Everyone should be able to give birth the way that they want to and if you wish to have midwife led care then go for it. Good luck for the ballot! I would register for it just in case, even if you end up going private you can always turn it down.

I agree with not worrying about going "private" because you have the insurance...........many of us have private health insurance for so many other reasons.
I have it & chose to go public with DS & will again this time. For me it's simple, we live in small rural community & don't even have the option of getting an ob anyway. So there is no point spending the $$$$ to be a private patient. I will always get a room to myself & the care I need. Infact any time we go to the hosp we go a public, unless we need to see a specialits or do not want to be on a waiting list etc.

i would go public because a) i cant afford private, there are ALOT of out of pocket costs involved. b) private patients seem to generally be induced, or c-sects (very general statement i realise) c) you arent guaranteed a private room anyway d) i went public twice and i didnt have any dramas or issues.

hi loupy,

i'm going private with our private cover cos i figured that's what we've paid for and I am not keen on sharing a room afterwards. But we have extenuating circumstances and i probably would have just gone public if i'd been able to conceive naturally etc

as it was we hit the 80% medicare rebate by february thnaks to IVF and are only $400 out of pocket for our private obs and hopstial (which isn't a big deal given we both work full tme and have no financial burdens). Also we chose our obs because she was the doc who transferred the only embryo that has ever stuck - so we felt a connection to her and she knew us.

i really think there's pros and cons for both and its such a personal choice. maybe it would be better to ask around locally in your area of some mums and see what they say. I know one of our public hosp in my area you wouldn't touch with a stick, but the other is very very highly regarded in terms of maternity etc.

if you are really in doubt, i'd go public cos at least you aren't out of pocket any money. i suppose you've got to look at the reasons to go private and whether they are really improtant to you or not.

good luck hun.

What difference is there in appointments during the pregnancy between public and private?

I am going public, and have already had a few appointments due to being 'high risk' (my health, not bubs). I know i couldn't afford the treatment if i went private, but for those with 'normal' pregnancies, do you spend less time in the waiting room if you go private? Do you get the option of more out of hours appointment?

these things could potentially sway my decision.

I went public with my daughter 4 years ago. I had to attend the hospital for all my app's and there was usually 3 others booked in at the same time. I did have my own room after the birth, but apparently this was because I'd had an Emergency C.
The only out of pocket expenses I had were for my scans (difference between there charge and medicare rebate) and that was it.

I went private the second time as I'd had alot of issues getting pregnant and I wanted to use the specialist I had been seeing the whole time.
My fee to see the Specialist was $3500. $2000 at 20 weeks and $1500 at 30 weeks. I then had to pay $350 excess for private hospital. I paid for the scans myself and claimed back the money later.
After paying the $2000 we were able to claim back 80% after the initial medicare gap was paid. after that we got back 80% of all out of pocket expenses except for the $1500 we paid at 30 weeks. (we claimed this at tax time and got about $150 back).

After paying everything, we ended up worse off going private, but if I have another baby, I would like to go Private again. I like the doctor I used and I also had a Caesar the second time.

Hope this helps with your choice

Sorry I forgot to add, I used to wait at my Ob/Gyn appointments (Private) for sometimes up to an hour. This was due to 15 minute appointments and the Dr running behind!

Hey all,
We also have PH due to fertility reasons and have decided to go through the public system but as a private patient. We are having bubs at a public hospital, have been seeing a public ob (due to the fact that private obs in my area are very strict with available hours). The private doctor who will be there to deliver bubs works at our local doctors and is seeing us as a public patient until bubs is due. Then he will switch us over to private for the only reason is I want to have my own room.

Also as he is seeing us as a public patient up until just before bubs is born so we don't have any out of pocket expense.
When we do go in under private (just for the birth) there will also be no out of pocket expense as our doctor is going through the access gap system (where he bills our PH direct). we also have no excess on our hospital stay.

Hope all my rambling makes sense.

:)

i should also add that we have no excess to pay either and my private ob charges $2000 neat for the whole kit and kaboodle - which i think is pretty reasonable.

i can't give you a comparison on waiting times... but we do spend a lot of time waiting for our ob. Once it was 2 hrs and mostly it's an hour.. that's cos she's super busy, they book the appnts too close and women keep having babies on our appnt days (our obs told us she thinks we might be causing all the deliveries to arrive once a month when we visit her lol). i've never asked for out of hours appont as i get time off work for them.

we pay up front for everything and then claim it back through medicare. as for value for money... ask me in dec ! lol.

:)

This is a bit of a saga but it might help you weigh up a few things that might be factoring into your decision ;)

I originally went private because I had heard many bad things about the local public hospital. I had also had a rather unpleasant experience in a shared ward in a public hospital (not the same place) when I had my appendix out so I decided I wanted the benefit of a private room and my husband to stay with me.

When DS2 was born we had moved further out and as we still had PHI, the closest hossie to us was private and the same OB worked there too so we went there. I was labouring in the bath and due to the no birthing in the water policy I was dragged out by the armpits when I started pushing.

When I was newly PG with DS3 the flashy new public hospital opened but it was a low risk facility which meant they wouldn't take me because I had a retained placenta and a PPH with DS2. Had they taken me I would have gone there without a doubt because they have nice big baths that they let you birth in. I also considered going to a different public hospital because of being dragged out of the bath and I was still a tad bitter, but because DS2 came rather quickly I decided we didn't need the stress of birthing in the car on the way there. So we went back to the same private hossie.

So when DD was born we went back to the same hossie, again for the same reasons. My OB didn't make it for the birth but did when I had a PPH 2 hours later.

In 4 pregnancies I only had 2 appointments rescheduled due to him attending a birth which I think was pretty good. I did have a few times when there was a bit of a wait but after having him tend to me with 2 complications post birth for hours, I totally understand why they run behind some days.

The fees can be quite a shock to the system I agree but they all go toward your safety net.

Loupy - if you would like to try to get into the birth centre at the RBH I say go for it hun. Just because you have private health insurance doesn't mean you have to use it.

I gave birth in a public hospital but had a private OB just for appointments. I felt I would feel more secure having the same OB see me for all my appointments but was happy to have the midwives deliver the bub. I was only out of pocket about $20 for each appointment. No pregnancy management fee. No hospital costs. I don't know if I'd bother with an OB again though as they don't do any special - just order tests & measure you. The midwives at the practice took my BP each time. I'd see him for maybe 5 minutes a visit.

If your pregnancy becomes high risk in the public system you will see an OB.

Regardless of what way you go midwives are the ones who you spend your labour with. The OB only comes in right at the end (or if it's a long labour will pop in to check on you here and there). You have no guarantee your own OB will arrive in time, or that he/she will be on call if it's out of hours.

My pregnancy was low risk throughout but an OB was required to deliver bub. It was the on duty OB & he did a fabulous job of it.

I never minded having to share a room. I never had to wait to use the loo or the shower. Food was fantastic & I'm mega fussy.

If I was to do it again I'd go public in a heartbeat.

I have done both public and private.

The level of care I received in both instances was great.

What was good about my public experience: You really don't pay for much at all. You get to see an OB anyway if you're deemed high risk, even for all your appointments.

What was bad about my public experience: Long waits for appointments, only 2 ultrasound scans and both on site at outpatients with no facilities to print a nice pic or record a dvd of your bubba in the womb, and I shared a room with a woman who had a toddler and lots of noisy family visiting constantly, I just didn't get any peace.

What was good about my private experience: got to have fab one on one chats and didn't feel rushed with my OB at most visits, got a little mini ultrasound each visit so lots of bonding with baby, got my own room in private hosp for 6 nights - heaven - own bathroom and no one else's visitors.

What was bad: Long waits at appointments, sometimes he was out delivering a baby so you just didn't know when he'd be back - do I stay here waiting or rebook? My OB had the weekend off when I delivered so I got his fill-in guy, who was fabulous, but I had never met him before and I felt a bit ripped off, and I had to show my bits to this strange man I'd never met !!! Pfft!!!


All in all - it's private again for me this time round but only because I really really want my own room and peace and quiet in a nice hospital. I really feel the level of care across both was the same, and even though you get lots of money back going private, you do pay a lot more for stuff that comes for free going public.

My local public hossy is a disgrace (in terms of service, ammenities - tho i hear SOME midwives are great) and I wouldn't go there (for non baby reasons) unless I was dying and didn't think i'd survive the trip to Syd/Newcastle. So I didn't feel like I had much of a choice to make. My experience with my Ob and private hossy was AWESOME and I wouldn't hesitate to go back with my next bub. My room was lovely, food great, always a midwife when I needed one eg when I needed help to feed. My Ob did deliver Blake via ventrose and did a great job stitching me up. Also got to stay till I felt ready to go home (5 days). My local public has also got some very bad press lately regarding crap/inadequete meals and forcing women to go home before they are ready (ie after 4 hours - when they WANTED to stay in). I have also had a local GP tell me to drive to Westmead (about an hour away) - don't go to local - if DS needs medical attention

Going private was $$$ ($80 per visit + $1000 preg planning fee + $200 excess + scans) but such a great, positive experience before during and after birth - priceless.

If you have a good public option - you will have a harder decision to make than I did.

I have PHI and went Private. I had a brilliant experience. Having a private room and the ability for my partner to stay the entire time was what swayed me over.