Private versus public

[uni-mum-2-2]

Hi everyone. I am planning number two and was wondering there is anybody that has had one child in publisc and one in private, and which they thought was better. I had my daughter at Armadale hospital in Perth and they were wonderful:thumbsup: , but now I have private health insurence I am debateing going to Galieers or St John of Gods. The only thing that concers me is the out of pocket expenses that I might face if going private. How much does it actually end up costing??:confused:

Any comments would be great.
Thankyou
julie

[Chelle123]

I went private with DS1 and it was really lovely. With DS2 I had complications by 27 weeks and was advised to go to the public as they have better facilities. I do not regret going public as the midwives were wonderful and we didn't spend a cent. The worst thing about going public is that you may have to share a room. I ended up staying in the public for 8 days and I really can't complain about anything.

[pickles]

I actually had private health insurance through both my pregnancies but wanted to give birth at KEMH birth centre. The care was fantastic through the pregnancy, birth and afterwards. If i had a third i would still go back there - although i would need to transfer to the main hospital as my gestational diabetes reading would probably be too high to stay at the birth centre.
Ultimately it would depend on what you are after. Private does not always mean better , particularly if you had a great experience at the hospital you birthed at previously.

Good luck

Pickles
DD 02/03
DS 03/05

[ImNotJustAnymum]

Hi Private by no means guarentees better care- i think in australia we are pretty lucky to have great care either way however the reason i chose to go private is the a; i wanted my own obstatrician sp. I did have to pay for this though b; wanted my own room c; i wanted to ability to stay in hosital for 6 days if i wanted to even with out complicationms- the public system tend to kick you out quite soon after birth- but everyone is different- i think some people like being kicked out early- i was just a bit scared of going home with this new baby..

so what ever you chose im sure you will have fantastic care- but for the few extra perks of private it cost me about $1600 OUT OF POCKET not including pivate healthy insurence costs..

good luck with bubs..

[~Emmylou~]

I have done both and if I had another baby (and I couldn't have it at home which would be my first preference :D ) I would go public.

Going private increases the likelihood of having interventions and of having a c/section. Some private hospitals in Australia have caesar rates above 50% - this means you are more likely to have a caesar in these hospitals than a natural birth. The ones that aren't this high are still unacceptably high so for me I would go public even though I have private insurance.

ETA my out of pocket expenses for the private hospital birth were around $1500.

[consy]

Well i haven't done private but I had my son at King Eddies and they were excellent! There is nothing that convince me to go private now my experience was so good. I had complications, and their care was excellent. Also you get access to the Breastfeeding Centre for 12 weeks which was hugely reassuring.

I love my King Eddies... it drives me nuts when people write letters about them to the paper. I get really defensive! :laughing:

[lavenderpegasus]

I had no out of pocket expenses for the actual hospital (RPA- Sydney) but the OB was were I paid all my money to.

lp in wa

[jasesmum]

I had my first public and second private. They both had positives and negatives.
Public was good in that it offered lots of additional things for free - parenting classes, antenatal classes, access to nutritionists, exercise classes for after, etc. However I hated the long waits to see a doctor at the end of pregnancy sitting in a hallway being a number. Also I had high blood pressure and was hospitalised in my last week of pregnancy and hated not knowing what was happening as doctors changed shifts...people changed minds about whether to send me home or induce me and I had many different faces at the end of the bed IYKWIM. However, everything went well in the end and besides that it was great and generally no real expenses.

Private - the flipside...one person in control. Same face each appointment and at the end of the bed when it all happened. When needed to get in to see her about problems during pregnancy, got in straightaway etc. Downside though the cost. Mostly for the ob and scans. I think this depends on what ob u choose though.My ob had one off payment of 1400 or something like that then 80 each visit...but get money back through medicare. Also I found didn't have a lot of stuff offered and everything you need to pay for inclduing antenatal classes...not that it that expensive just everything u pay.

Thats just my experience anyway.

[allysophia]

I couldn't imagine a better birth then the one I had at my public hospital.

Drug free -

Minimal intervention -

A doctor who talked me through everything (only when I asked, 90% it was midwives)

Out of there (by my own choice!) the day I had DS.

[wildfire]

I really think it depends on what you are looking for in a birth. Do you want a drug free intervention free? If so I would not advise that you attend SJOG, they have an epidural rate of 95% I am told, and an awfully high C-section rate too, well above 50%....
Did you have a good experience with number 1? If so, I would go back there. Having said that, giving birth in a hospital is always a lottery, sometimes you get wonderful, supportive care providers and sometimes you don't.
Personally, I gave birth in a private hospital first time around, and at home second time around, and if for some medical reason I couldn't birth at home again, I would absolutely choose to go publicly through KEMH.
Good luck with whatever you decide.

ETA don't forget that here in Perth we are lucky to have a free homebirth scheme!

[lilpearl]

public leads to better outcomes. going private gives one the highest chance of intervention. private means fancy room, but it is the birth that matters. midwifery care in a public hospital leads to better outcomes than private with ob. homebirth has the best statistics....with a caesarean rate of 4%.

[Dea]

i went public with all 4 of mine & got best service 3/4 pregnancies .... i had 3 at gold coast hospital & 1 at mater mothers .. never would i go to mater ever again ... but im all finished now lol ...

[Verdi]

I had my first in public and the rest private, and would highly recommend private!!!

Infact i found the opposite to what some have said the they push drugs and so forth none in the private weren ever forthcomming with them you had to ask for it.

Just remeber those usually go private have had complicated births or have complications so the figures are fudged when you look at stats.

In my experience Private was amazing the care was uncomparable they were fantastic to me once i tried private i would never return to public care for anything!

I had brilliant births and my last was exceptional - i loved it!!

[Mamaduke]

I had my first public and had an emergency c/section. The care from the midwives was second to none - they were absolutel angels, pain medication was always on offer, never once was I in actual pain afterwards, the SCN nurses were fabulous, the doctors...mmm, no comment, they came, they cut, they conquered - never saw them again.
Second - private, pressured into a c/section. The pros were having my own Doctor.
The cons were that the hospital is run for a profit which meant after a c/section, not a lot on offer pain-wise. Midwives/nurses who were agency staff and to be totally honest, had absolutely no idea. Pushed me to leave before I was ready/able to because "we have people waiting for this room".
This time I'm going private again but only so I can have the birth that I want (long story) but I won't be going back to the previous private hospital.
If you're going to go private then shop around for hospitals and obstetricians - their care, customer service etc really does differ from one to another.
I also choose private because we have the means to pay for it so I think it's taking just a little pressure off an already burdened public system.

[Mamaduke]

Infact i found the opposite to what some have said the they push drugs and so forth none in the private weren ever forthcomming with them you had to ask for it.

Truer words were never spoken!!!
I was suffering with a spinal headache after L's birth and was pleading for something for the pain..."You can have a Panadol in an hour or so" was the response.
It may have been that particular hospital but trying to get pain relief out of those women was like you were raiding their personal stash!

[Verdi]

Sorry off topic but Mamaduke how cute are your boys!!!!

I am sure you will get a lovely experience this time!:)

Very good point about burdening the public system that is something i have also considered but forgot to mention.

I also agree with Mamaduke shop aroiund with the hospitals and obs i did and have got the best support from both obs and hospital which is why i have had the most fantastic births!

[MissSookyLaLa]

hey cant compare between public and private but im going private for the following reasons:

want my own doctor and easy access to him- i walk in without waiting for an appointment (compared to my friends going public who can wait for up to 3 hours to be seen for their check ups)...also 24 hour access to my doc (called him today for a med cert, spoke to doc and he faxed it out to me straight away)

I also want my own room and want to be able to stay in hospital as long as i feel i need to-

my hospital (the san in wahroonga sydney) has lots of additional services, like a photography service that posts photos of the bub on the net, they look after the bub for you if you want to go out the night before you go home, lots of aqua natal exercise classes and post natal exercise classes where they look after your bub for you, breastfeeding classes etc *most of these have a charge but lots is rebated by my health fund)

and i just want to be somewhere i feel comfortable when i give birth, the san is a beautiful hospital with top quality rooms, compared to my local hospital which, when i go there, feels run down, crowded and dirty...

but thats just my two cents

oh, and in terms of cost, i pay around 80 per check up and a one off charge to the OB of 2000 of which 80% was rebated by medicare, for the actual hospital stay all i pay is my excess for my insurance...the most expensive thing i found was the scans, one cost me 350 and i only got 75 or so back from medicare

[twee]

I also choose private because we have the means to pay for it so I think it's taking just a little pressure off an already burdened public system.

I have private insurance too, though we are not at all wealthy. I also used to think that going private when we have the mean (hard to say about the future right?) means we take pressure off the burdened public system and leave the resources in the public system for others in needs.

However, now I start to question whether it's too innocent a thought. I have never had to go to hospital, thanks goodness. Now I'm expecting my first child, and planning to move to Sydney. I have been calling few OBs. A normal fee for an antenatal meeting is around $100, and a normal management fee is around $5000 (Sydney is so expensive!). On one occassion, I have a quote of $200 per antenatal visit ($300 for initial consultation), and $9k management fee. The receptionist cheerfully told me that after I meet the Medicare Safety Net, I will only have to pay $40 per visit and around $2k management fee out of pocket.

Ok, up to there things sound normal right? But, doesn't it mean taxpayers pay $260 for each time I go and see the OB, and pay $7k just for 1 person, ie. me, to have her pregnancy managed? Even with a normal fee structure, taxpayers still pay $80 for each visit and $4k for management fee. Not to mention other out-of-pocket expense you can claim when you do your tax return and the government private health insurance rebate. Perhaps it will be better to use this money to equip public hospitals better, and after I use it other women can use it too?

I'm still paying my private health insurance, of course, but seriously question the system.

I'm a new member of the forum, and still not totally sure about the rules here. I'm sorry if this post spams the thread, I do realize that the thread intention is to discuss the merits of public and private services.

[sja]

I went private with all mine - at Mercy in Mt Lawley. I loved it. I think it depends on what you're after. For me, it was important to know who would be delivering my baby and that they know me well. Also, I was more interested in the stay after the birth, not the actual birth itself. So I loved having a double bed to myself, the bar fridge, the nursery that you can dump your baby in at any time to get some sleep, and the fact that they babysit for an evening while you go out to dinner with hubby. I also stayed 8 days with number 1 as it took me that long to get the breastfeeding under control and for me to feel comfortable to go home and do it alone. I was never pressured to leave - it's the opposite there actually, they like you to stay at least 5 days. I found the midwives lovely and they always had plenty of time to chat and help out.

When it comes to interventions, I believe this is more about your obstetrician than your hospital. I knew my obstetrician's view on interventions, she was always happy for me to delay being induced for a few more days when I wanted, and I never once felt she would get me to have a C-section unless it was absolutely necessary. If she said I needed a C-sect I would trust her. If I had an ob I hardly knew, I would find it a really difficult decision to make as I wouldn't know if I should trust them.

King Eddie's have a thing where you can stay there as a private patient. It seems to be mostly the same as being public with a couple of exceptions: you can have your ob and you get a few perks like free TV and phone. Any gap payments for your obstetrician, or anaesthetist etc are covered by the hospital. You'd still have the ob's other fees to pay though. I haven't had experience with giving birth in a public hospital, but I did have to stay at King Eddie's for a night with a bleed and I'm glad I didn't go there. I just found the room was cold and uncomfortable and made me appreciate more the big cosy rooms at Mercy.