Defence Health - FREE Mother Care

[MilkOnTap]

I'm kicking myself. I just found out I would have been entitled to 4hrs of free house cleaning, 4 weeks of cloth washing service AND access to 2 consultations with either a midwife or a lactation consultant - FOR FREE!

I'll copy and paste from the defence health website - I cant believe that I didn't know about it!


What is the Defence Health Mother Care Program?


Mother Care is a free service provided by Defence Health as part of the Member Support Program, specifically designed to help new you cope with the life change resulting from the birth your baby. The Program aims to make the transition from hospital to home easier for you, your baby and family.

If leaving hospital early, Mother Care provides the support you need. Firstly you will need to consult your doctor and hospital staff to determine whether early release is an option. Then when you return home, the program will you with the support you need.

Midwife or lactation consultations are available depending on how long Mother Care participants stay in hospital. Participants can also take advantage of the following services*(represented in units):
■ 2 hours of home cleaning
■ 2 weeks cloth nappy service, or
■ 1 box of Huggies disposable nappies.


If the participant does not elect a midwife/lactation consultation, they are not able to ‘swap' for other services such as nappies or cleaning.

Mother Care is for you and your baby and it’s absolutely free.

Simply download the brochure, complete and post/fax the Expression of Interest form to 02 4227 1678.


Who can use this service?

To use this service as a Mother Care participant you need to:


■have hospital cover and be eligible for maternity benefits with Defence Health

■be admitted to one of our selected participating hospitals as a private patient, and

■elect to go home early.


How does Mother Care work?

Before you leave the hospital, call a Program Nurse. Confirm your discharge details and discuss the services you are entitled to, The hospital staff or your doctor will complete a referral and you will be asked to sign a consent form. These will be faxed to the Program Coordinator. A Program Nurse will arrange the services you have chosen and contact you with the details.

The Program Coordinator will keep in regular contact with you when you return home to ensure that all services are in place and meet your needs.


Mother Care commitment to confidentiality

The health care professionals coordinating your program are the only people with access to your health information.


Family Assist

Mother Care isn’t the only way mother and baby can benefit from Defence Health membership. You can also participate in our Family Assist Program and take advantage of our free education and information service for mothers to be. To find out more click here.


For more information

Simply download the brochure, complete the Expression of Interest form and fax through to 02 4227 1678. Alternatively, contact our Member Service Centre on 1800 335 425.


There is a table on the website detailing how many units of assistance the mother is entitled to, dependant on whether its a c/sect or vaginal birth and how many nights she spends in hospital. Basically, the more nights you spend in hospital, the less your entitled to at home - so defence spouse - if your pregnant please please PLEASE check your entitlements through EVERY medium! Not just DFA or DCO.

[LachlansMun]

Pity i only had basic cover......

[Shauna]

Wow i never really read the defence health pages...sadly we havent had cover long enough to use it yet..but will be going for a third and will use all options, thanks for that Pink Lady!!

[3princes]

I called the otherday to change my address & ask about what was covered babywise as i was pregnant and ask much it would cost to go into public hospital as a pvt patient... heard too many stories about going in as pvt then recieving a big bill afterwards (we have top hospital & standard extras)- never told me about this service at all.... the customer service guy was a prick!

My gripe is that although my hubby is not covered by this that he is the main member and all changes to policy must go thru/ or be made by him, even setting up the online account with them!! makes me soo mad because I'm the one who uses it & i even pay it not my DH.

Thanks Pink Lady i'll be definatly checking this out!

[MilkOnTap]

No worries Yummi

Same goes with us. We're registered as a 'Military Family' rather than just 'family' and its ridiculous. Hubby is away for more than half of the year, yet somehow its 'easier' to contact him rather than me... HELLO!!!

They're not keen on handing out information willy-nilly - best to find it out on your own. Head to their website and there will be a dropdown menu underneath 'Going to Hospital' that says Support Programmes. Click on that and there are 3 different programmes. I wish I knew about these when Jedd was born! :banghead:

[Shauna]

I have never had a problem accessing the information and we are listed as a serving military family, maybe it depends on who you get... I m definately going to remember all this for my next bub we dont pay for it to get nothing after all!!

[Noah_and_Elijah]

I thought this was only for serving female members and not the wives or partners of serving memebers!?!

I could be wrong but I was talking to a Nurse (serving member) who was entitled to this service but she believed it wasn't available to the 'families' as such.

Could be wrong though. :confused:

[Shanaynay]

They wouldn't cover me for that as I'm not a serving member.... they did cover me for private hospital stay though :thumbsup:

[twinkletoes]

I had a baby a few weeks ago and used both family assist and mother care programs. Hubby is serving member. Its worth doing, I didn't have consultation with midwife as none available in my area (didn't want it anyway) but did get free nappies from Mother care program. Family Assist sent a baby care book and moisturiser/body wash set. I could call midwife with any problems and she will call me again in a few months to see how I am coping.

[ConcernedParent]

I am a spouse and not a serving member. We had top hospital cover and had our child in a private hospital in Qld 4 years ago. I took the nappies options, as I was already getting the visiting healthcare nurse through the community health service.

BUT: Buyer beware - some medico's in some states have incredible surcharges and extra fees for private patients. In our case, in Vic, our OBGYN would not see us until we had paid the $1500.00 gap fee up front. Then on top of that there are hospital fees and anaesthetists fees. If we had stayed in Vic it would have cost us over and above $3000.00 to go private, (that's ON TOP of what the health fund covers).

In the end, we spent the $3k on a month long trip home. Still went private but did so with family and friends around. Went back to old OBGYN and old hospital, both of whom had service agreements with Defence Health. Small fee at OB, (at the time $280.00 - to cover insurance) and no fee at Hospital.

If you are considering going private, for sure, check out all fees and charges in relation to this as you could be stuck with a big bill. Definately consider going with agreement hospitals and medicos.

Regarding contacting Defence Health... we make sure both parties names are down as designated contacts on any account we may have, (just in case). Solves so many problems. We also have a common password just in case they want to ask for extra security.

I have had one or two problems with the call centre over the years. Most times they are reasonable. Last year when I called up about dental I got someone who was not very helpful. I just hung up and called back another time and thankfully got someone more reasonable who spent the time going through a few things for me.

Sometimes you just gotta keep plugging away.

[3princes]

i called up and got the brochures.. about time we got something out of the money we fork out every year.

I did ask both the public hospital & the fund about out of pocket expenses.... hospital said any over what defence health will pay will be charged straight to medicare. As for OB fees, I'm going thru my Dr and just having the midwives so hopefully i won't have to deal with this! As out of pocket expenses were my big fear!