state vs private regarding pregnancy and birth

[sylvesterthecat]

Hi,

Having moved over from the UK and having my child there, I am unsure of what happens regarding medical assistance here during pregnancy and birth.

What kind of care do you receive from the government if you dont have private medical? And if you do have private medical what does this allow you to have that the government dont? eg how many scans? check ups? hospitals? do you get assigned a midwife either way?

I'm sure anything would be better than the UK, sharing a ward with 20 other new mums and babies wailing all night, then being told to go home the next day as they need the bed!

I would be grateful for your experiences.

Kind regards,

Lisa

[Cerridwen]

I had my DD at a public hospital. Went to King Edward Hospy as a public patient. Was able to go through the clinic midwifes which were great.

All your scans etc if you go thorugh the hospital are covered by medicare, but you need to wait a long time.

The share rooms have only 4 beds, and you get a private birthign suite to have the baby in.

Private hospitals aren't really that much different, you pay more and you may get a nicer room to stay in when you have bubs.

I ended up having to have a C-section with my DD, though the midwives worked really hard to help me ahve her naturally. I had a room to myself with it's own bathroom and it was a decent size :yes:

[eeyorethedonkey21]

i had my ds2 at king edward and went through the NBAC clinic which is the new clinic they've set up for next birth after c-section. i had a vbac (best bloody vbac anyone could hope for i think). i did shared-care with my gp and midwifes and i couldnt recommend them high enough. i was in and out of hospital within 9hrs of booking in.

[MooMum]

I too am a King Eddies Mum! I'm also a nurse and think the care I received for my first pregnancy and birth and now my second pregnancy have just been wonderful! This pregnancy I've been quite unwell and have had to spend some time in the hosp already and I've had fantastic specialists caring for me. They do have shared rooms as mentioned but they generally keep those for women who are as yet to have their bubs or are in with gynae related probs. We were told 9x out of 10 you'll have a private room. You do see the midwives and if you have any complications you are seen by an ob. We had all our scans there, and I as yet haven't had to wait long at all. There are sometimes delays in the clinic but that's the only thing I can say that isn't positive!

Can't give you any perspective of the private system, other than friends experiences and they seem to pay for what we got in the public system. We will be making a donation to the hospital from the baby bonus as I feel the need to after the fablous care I've received and public hospitals don't get enough funding IMO.

Good luck and welcome to Aus and Perth! I hope your birth experience is positive and much better than your first experience.:flowerz:

[mythreelittlemonkeys]

I am from the UK too...and was very shocked when arrived here about everyone having private health insurance and using it to have babies...
I wasnt covered for DD and we went to King Eddies and I wholly support what the other ladies have said...
my DS I had at Kaleeya another public hospital and it was wonderful too...
I have friends who swear by private but when you ask them why it is for the things like the double bed, the fact you get a special meal together and hotel like service for food...well to be honest those things arent really that important to me...
the midwife clinics at both the hospitals I went to were great, my obstetrician at Kaleeya was wonderful too...and unlike my friends who chose private I wasnt out of pocket at all...(private health covers your hospital stay but not all of your private ob visits and other stuff)
Oh I have had a private room both times too, and the shared rooms only had a couple of beds in at Kaleeya and like the other poster said 4 at King Eddies and most people i have spoken to have been in private rooms.

[pegasus]

As far as I'm aware - the difference is in the hospital stay.

As a private patient - I still had to pay for all my ob visits - and get any medicare rebate I was entitled to. All of my private hospital stay was covered under my private health agreement.

As a private patient - you can choose your ob and to remain under the same ob (if that is your choice), but you still pay for it as you don't get any rebates via private health for the out patient visits.

As a public patient, you are not assured of the same ob to deliver your baby as you have visited in your prenatal visits.

Hope that helps.

[eeyorethedonkey21]

As a public patient, you are not assured of the same ob to deliver your baby as you have visited in your prenatal visits.



thats very true i was lucky with my second pregnancy at kemh that when i had to see one of the obs i was lucky enough to get the same one twice (at 24 weeks and 36 weeks) other than that i saw my gp and the midwives. the east wing clinic at kemh can take a while in the waiting room i think i averaged about an hour waiting both times i had to go there. when i saw my midwives at the nbac clinic i think i waited about 5 minutes each time.

i cant say what the rooms were like as i was admitted into labour and birth suites and also discharged from there. never went into the wards. my best friend had a private room tho with her own bathroom and they looked pretty good.

i personally dont see the need to go private especially as you're out of pocket.

im not sure if king edward do all the scans anymore or if they only do scans on women with difficult pregnancies as i wasnt able to have my scans done there.they're REALLY busy. i had to go to skg radiology near home for mine.

oh and for your blood tests try and go to Pathwest as they won't charge you its covered by medicare. if you go to st john of god pathology they send all their specimens to clinipath (or whatever they're called) and then they send you an invoice to pay.

good luck on ur ttc

[sylvesterthecat]

thank you so much!! really informative.

What does medicare cover in relation to scans, staying in hospital. What if you need a C section - is that covered?

We are not ttc#2 just yet - but are thinking about it! #1 can be quite demanding so its a scary thought right now!

thanks again,

Lisa

[eeyorethedonkey21]

in terms of a c-section a lot of the time they (being public obs at public hospitals) will only do them if u've had a previous one or if its medically required. if its needed medicare cover the cost of it and you wont be out of pocket. medicare will cover the cost of your hospital stay as well. in terms of your scans if you go to skg you will be out of pocket there. im not sure how it works if u're lucky enough to get them done at hospital. i think i was out of pocket for the entire 13week scan (medicare doesnt cover that one at all) and the 20 week anatomy scan i think i was out of pocket around $80.

i know what you mean about #1 being a bit of a handful. our ds1 was and still is going through the terrible twos tantrums but he has been really good with his little brother and not jealous at all which i was suprised about.

[Cerridwen]

I had a C section at King Eddy, not an elective one though, DD just didnt' want to come out, and that was at no cost to me :)

[Teegzie]

I had my DD at a public hospital. Went to King Edward Hospy as a public patient. Was able to go through the clinic midwifes which were great.

All your scans etc if you go thorugh the hospital are covered by medicare, but you need to wait a long time.

The share rooms have only 4 beds, and you get a private birthign suite to have the baby in.

Private hospitals aren't really that much different, you pay more and you may get a nicer room to stay in when you have bubs.

I ended up having to have a C-section with my DD, though the midwives worked really hard to help me ahve her naturally. I had a room to myself with it's own bathroom and it was a decent size :yes:

Same here! The private room was really nice. The middies took DP to show him where the tea room was and told him to help himself to tea/coffee/milo and that he was welcome to stay during the "rest period" and didn't have to leave as soon as the visiting hours were up. Plus the tea lady always made DP a cuppa when she came past even though it was meant to be for patients only! :p

I also second getting your blood work done at Pathwest rather than SJOG. If you are at the hospital for clinic appointments then you should be able to just duck down to their phlebotomy dept and get it done there. Which area are you in? It depends on which hospitals you are near as to what sort of care you wqould recieve and what differences you get with public/private.

[katieinwa]

if you elect to go as a public patient at a public hospital then there is no cost to you. all your medical costs are paid for by medicare.

if you want to go private then you get billed everything, if you have private health insurance then some or all will be covered barr excess payments

out of hospital services most you can claim back from medicare a portion. there is the medicare safety net which means after you are out of pocket a certain figure you will continue to get a higher rebate back for the rest of the calender year.