My Obstetrician Costs...ouch

[MyTwoBlue]

I am booked into Northpark Private. I have private health insurance with Medibank Private. As far as i can tell and what ive been told after ringing medicare, private health and my og/gyn:

Private health will pay for my hospital stay/delivery only.

Ob/gyn fees are $150 initial consultation. (claimable through medicare refund of $65.70)
20 weeks $1750 (claimable through medicare refund?)
30 weeks $750 (neither private or medicare refund)

Any antenatal care etc etc is covered through medicare. Though i dont know exactly what is and what isnt.
The medicare safety net needs too reach $1058.

Sound familiar to anyone??

[bcoprice]

Yep sounds spot on to me...although I'm only paying
*initual consult fee 150.00
*every other appointment 80.00
*20week fee 1800.00

There is no 30 week fee that I have to pay and although many OBGYN's charge it I'm still at a loss as to what its for...maybe someone can enlighten me...
Hope this helps you out...oh forgot to mention I'm booked into John Flynn Private on the Gold Coast.

[meagss]

Pretty much ditto for me too (I'm with MBF) - although my ob's fees (Sunnybank Private, Qld) aren't as high as yours:

*$110 Initial consultation
*$60 Follow-up consultations
*$1400 20-wk management fee

I've not heard of a 30-wk fee either?

Personally, I think it's sucks that private health insurance premiums are so high, then we're out-of-pocket even more until we arrive at the hospital!
Any scans you have also only have a fairly small medicare rebate.

For what it's worth, if you qualify for Family Tax Benefit Part A after bub is born, your Medicare Safety Net will drop to $529.

[maisymum]

Why does the medicare safety net drop to $ 529? we have 3 kiddies and after I had our 3rd nothing dropped down, the safety net is still $ 1500 Is this something new? Maisymum :flowerz:

[meagss]

Hi Maisymum

If you are getting a Family Tax Benefit Part A payment from the government (and you should be, everyone with a child is entitled to it) then your Medicare Saftey Net threshold automatically drops to $529.

I'm not quite sure why your current threshold would be on $1500 anyway? The highest it can be is $1058.
Have you actually contacted Medicare and registered your entire family for the Safety Net? You need to do this, it doesn't just happen automatically. You can do it online at http://www.medicareaustralia.gov.au/public/services/msn/register.jsp or you can go into your local branch and do it. There is lots of info on the Medicare website if you still aren't sure about it. :)

[MelissafromSyd]

All obstetricians vary in their fees. It might be a good idea to phone around and ask their fees before booking with them. They also have different fee structures. You can expect to pay anywhere from $1000 - $6000!

Remember that any medical expenses in excess of $1500 can be claimed with your tax - you get 20% back for every dollar you spend over $1500.

There are other pregnancy and birth options you can explore too if you're interested.

Cheers,
Melissa.

[MountainGirl]

sounds pretty reasonable to me. My ob costs around $6,000.

[ikis84]

Well, my midwife cost $4000 and none of that was claimable on our private health insurance :(

Totally worth it though (over 1hr visits each appointment, she lent me books, dvds etc, not to mention she was available by phone 24/7)... but so sucky!

[meagss]

Remember that any medical expenses in excess of $1500 can be claimed with your tax - you get 20% back for every dollar you spend over $1500.

Ok, so this is where I am slightly confused: is this tax rebate when you spend over $1500 a totally separate thing to the Medicare safety net? And if so, are you able to claim both or just one or the other?

[MelissafromSyd]

I'm not 100% sure, but pretty sure the $1500 thing is separate to the medicare safety net. Maybe check with your accountant / tax agent? the ATO would know as well.

Cheers,
Melissa.

[missie_mack]

Ok, so this is where I am slightly confused: is this tax rebate when you spend over $1500 a totally separate thing to the Medicare safety net? And if so, are you able to claim both or just one or the other?

No just your out of pocket expenses... so if your bill (and its all medical expenses not just maternal) was $2000 and you got $800 back from your healthfund you can only claim the 1200 if your other costs exceed this or if it relating to your work. For example a friend had to have all her teeth removed and get dentures. The out of pocket cost of her dentures was claimed because she needed the dentures to be able to talk clearly in her line of work :) But like others said there would be loopholes and the like check with the ATO or your tax accountant

[meagss]

I'm not 100% sure, but pretty sure the $1500 thing is separate to the medicare safety net. Maybe check with your accountant / tax agent? the ATO would know as well.


No worries, thanks Melissa. I might get on the ATO website and have a look.

Ooops, just saw your post too, missie_mack. Thanks for your info.... as I said, am just about to jump on the ATO website and see what they have to say...

[miasmummyy]

hi an

[miasmummyy]

hi angeliz
the cost of having a baby is ridiculous if you are in private cover! (which i am) but my costs sound ok compared to yours and other ppl on this site.
$150 initial consult. $70 dollars each consult after that and $700 at 20 weeks. but half way through my pregnancy i reached my saftey net so i received 80% of my out of pockets back! im in tassie so compared to other states im finding my fees were quite reasonable...

[kiwibird27]

OUCH>>>>>>>>>>>>>Another reason not to bother with private health insurance... so glad I went public!!

[mini-moo's mummy]

hi angeliz......
im going to go to northpark as well same insurance company.....
if u dont mund me asking which OB r u using???
im looking into them at the moment