Has anyone heard of...

[luv2luv]

being able to do the midwifery management progame as a fully public patient BUT then being able to utulise my private health cover in order to obtain my own private room?

If so, would I just be out of pocket for my hospital excess? Does anyone know if you pay an excess if in a private room of a PUBLIC hospital.

Hope that all makes sense.

Also does anyone know why private hospitals don't do the Midwifery Programes? They sound fantastic which is why I'm leaning more towards midwifery care than OB care.

[Izy]

In most cases an excess will still apply if you have it as part of your cover. Any copayment is not payable to a public facility though.

You may like to talk to your public hospital about your thoughts though, sometimes they are willing to absorb the excess costs as they still get paid more from a private fund (excess removed) than from the gov.

[SammieSnail]

To answer one part of your question, yes you would still be required to pay your excess as a private patient in a public hospital. When we left the hospital the lady at the front desk asked us to declare on our forms whether we saw ourselves as public patients (we have a healthcare card) or private patients in a public hospital (we are covered by MBF). As we were transfering to the private we put on our declaration form that we wanted to be treated as public patients as we didn't want to pay the excess for two different hospitals. We were only there for the birth and it was their choice to give us a private room prior to knowing we had private cover.

[traseal]

i went public nd had my own room....why not do that?

[Izy]

It's not all that common that you get a private room as a public patient unless you have an issue that might make others uncomfortable in a share ward.

Oh, and in case it happens again Sammiesnail, MBF charge excess only once per person per calendar year. So if you paid excess to the public hospital you wouldn't need to pay it again in the private facility (unless the second admission was in a new calendar year)

[schoolmum]

I was a private patient in a public hospital for my third baby, my obgyn was the head of ob at that hospy, whom I saw privately,I wanted a VBA2C, fortunately he put me on the midwife program, and all went very well.
I ended up with my own room, and stayed in for 5 days, instead of being turfed out in 2. We did pay the excess, but the obgyn bulk billed to medicare.

[ImNotJustAnymum]

Alot of the hospitals around melbourne dont charge an excess for going as a private patient in a public hospital- but then they also dont guarantee a private room either- you can still be put in a shared room as a private patient- so it depends on the hospital- its best to talkto them and see what they offer.