Public vs Private!

[newtoarea]

I need some help pls! It's all very confusing this Private Health Insurance stuff. Originally I wanted to birth through a Birthing Centre but was scared out of it due to stories of "when things go wrong with birthing they go horribly wrong". So I decided to get NIB Health Insurance. I read a clause stating "you shouldn't have to pay out of pocket expenses" if you are with an NIB agreement Private Hospital. I live on the Gold Coast and none of the hospitals are covered (even the Mater Mothers Private in Brisbane isn't...only the private floor in the public hospitals). I rang NIB to query this and they stated I could birth in any of the private hospitals but may have to pay theatre and accommodation costs. I guess that is for a worse case scenario.....but I thought that's why you pay private health insurance.....to cover you from worse case scenarios! And say I am in a Public hospital but on a private floor....wouldn't that mean I'd be paying for public theatre?
:hair:

[lovelymum]

We are with medibank private, I chose this health fund as it has such a large hospital coverage, HBA is the same. As far as out of pocket costs go it depends on the level of cover you have, also make sure you have served your minimum 12 month waiting period as you can only use your health insurance AFTER 12 MONTHS FOR OBSTETRICS. We have top level hospital cover so we had no out of pocket expeses for the actuall hospital, operating theatre etc.... However we did have out of pockets for the anetheatist and peadiatrician (as they are seperate from the hospital). Health insurance is really confusing at the best of times I know. If you are not happy with NIB's hospital list you can change companies with no consquence to yourself and you do not have to serve another 12 month wait. When you change companies you get a certificate from NIB to give to new one to prove you have served the minimum waiting period. From experience I have found all health funds to be quite competitive as far as pricing although gotta say medibank is a little dearer but they really do cover a lot.

[lilli]

I need some help pls! It's all very confusing this Private Health Insurance stuff. Originally I wanted to birth through a Birthing Centre but was scared out of it due to stories of "when things go wrong with birthing they go horribly wrong". So I decided to get NIB Health Insurance...

If you birth in a birthing centre that is within a public hospital then you will be in as good a hands as you will be in a private hospital. Eg. Royal Brisbane has a birthing centre and if things go "horribly wrong" they wheel you down the corridor to the normal hospital birthing area (with doctors and drugs!).

If you're only taking out health insurance because you think it will minimalise things going wrong then it's a waste of money. If you have a severe premmie bub or major issues, chances are you'll end up a a major public hospital as they are better equipped to deal with it.

If, however, you want to be able to choose your own ob, want a better chance at having a room to yourself after the baby is born or an elective c/section, then take out health insurance (but there are nearly always out of pocket expenses).

[Amara]

If you want to be in the best place if things go wrong then you need to be in a public hospital. Most public hospitals have duty OB's on at all times, private hospitals don't. They will call your OB in but that doesn't mean they will actually show, they may be having a day off (in which case they send someone else they are linked up with) or be attending a different birth at another hospital.

Private hospitals for birthing IMHO are all about choosing your OB & having a private room.

I gave birth publicly & didn't have to pay a cent. Not one cent for the two different OB's that attended me during the labour, nor for the middy's or the bed for me for 5 nights. I also incurred no costs for the 5 nights bub had in special care nor for the several paeds that saw him during his stay.

If you are in a public hospital as a private patient you don't get treated any differently to a public patient - you just get to choose your OB - so yes it would be a "public theatre" that you would be in.

[Sparrowgal]

Amara is right - if you worry about complications then what you need is to be in a public hospital. A public hospital with an experienced birthing unit/ward. And private health insurance is about choosing your obstetrician and having a nice single room in a nice private hospital.

So if you are private in a public hospital and don't have an obstetrician then that's fine, the midwives and doctors will look after you but you should be able to get a single room unless they're short of rooms.

There is nowhere and no one that I know of, where you will not have out of pocket expenses if you use a private obstetrician (unless they knows u personally or are their colleague or something) because they usually have excess fees to be able to front up their huge medical insurance fees.