Private insurance for Bubs

[notquitesupermum]

I have private health insurance as a single, Hubby is not yet covered so when bubs is born I will be covered but not bubs.

I spoke to my PHI provider yesterday and they advised that hubby should come on board just before bubs due date making our cover 'family' and thus including bubs from birth.

He also advised though that although I am covered for all inpatient doctors visits etc bubs will not be as he will be considered a 'border' not a patient unless something is wrong in which case he would be admitted.

As long as all goes well I will give birth and recover in the Private Hospital however if something goes wrong bubs will be moved (I would go with I guess) to the Public Hospital as they have better facilities for complications.

I cant figure out whether I am better off getting 'family' cover before bubs is born or leaving it and having bubs admitted as a public patient if the need arises...

anyone with experience with this have an opinion?

TIA

[Peajae]

Does the private hospital your are delivering in have a special care nursery? Even if they don't and something goes wrong with bub, he or she would still receive some treatment at the private hospital prior to being retrieved by the public hospital, and that could quickly become very expensive.

My recommendation would be to take out the family cover prior to bub's birth, making sure you check on any waiting periods you have to have as a family before bub is born. I'm pretty sure there aren't any and bub should be covered from birth no matter how soon before that you take out the cover, but better to be safe than sorry. Would probably also pay to take it out at least a few weeks in advance in case of premature delivery. Check out at what gestation your private hospital will allow you to deliver (might be 32, 34, 36wks etc), and take out the cover from that point at the latest. If you go into labour earlier than they will deliver, you would be transferred to the public hospital to deliver anyway.

It can sometimes be a few hours before the retrieving hospital can get to the delivery hospital to pick up the baby, depends on urgency, ambulances/other transport, staffing, traffic etc. Obviously the team would get there asap, I just mean that your baby might require several hours of care before they do.

Sorry for being so matter-of-fact about it, obviously I hope nothing goes wrong and all of this will have just been hypothetical!

I hope that helps and makes sense!

[Mollymoo]

I was in exactly the same situation before having my baby, and the private hospital I was in strongly recommended us getting the family cover to ensure bubs would be covered - they explained that the costs of a private special care nursery could be very, very, high. So, we changed to family cover and all was well.

One thing to watch - my husband had separate cover with the same provider, and despite their verbal assurances that he would still be covered for the same items under family cover, he wasn't, and we've had to up our level of extras cover again. I guess the moral of the story is - double check everything with insurance providers, in writing!

[sweetseven]

I know almost nothing about PHI so my comments might be totally in error.

Based on watching American-based TV shows, it is my understanding that the hospital has to treat someone when there is urgent need.

I'm thinking that if you birth in a private hospital and bubs needs emergency treatment, surely they would be obliged to assist until the public hospital can retrieve him - effectively treating him as a public patient, just like one can be treated as a private patient in a public hospital. You would probably need to be clear that you do not consent to him neing admitted as a private patient.

Of course, as I said, I really dont know anything about the subject, and my musings may be comepletely false.

Oh, and I recently read a thread on here about someone complaining about receiving yet another bill they received for their bubs care at birth. They are so dissatisfied that they will not go private again.
STILL getting bills from DS's birth and I'm over it (http://www.bubhub.com.au/community/forums/showthread.php?t=344116&highlight=RBH+SCN)

[notquitesupermum]

Just noticed that I had got replys on this one.

Thank you all for your input!
We will take out the family insurance just in case at 35 weeks (cant deliver there before 36 weeks)
last thing we need when bubs is born is a bunch of un expected bills.

bub2010- thats a good point about the continuity of care in the event bubs needs ongoing care. I'll be sure to mention that when I gently bring up the price with hubby

[sweetseven]

The idea does sound logic, And yes they would provide what ever treatment that is needed however in a Private hospital, it is exactly that Private, they don't operate under Medicare, they are not funded in any way by the government or medicare they are a Privately run facility, you will get billed for what ever services you require, yes you will be able to claim some of those services through medicare but I would expect you would more than likely be out of pocket thousands of dollars... You have to pay for what you get...Going off topic here.

If I, who doesn't have private health insurance, were visiting someone in a Private Hospital and had an unexpected heart attack, what would happen?

a) They treat me and bill me for it even though I never requested or consented to such treatment.

b) They call an ambulance and it gets dealt with just as if it occurred in a random office.

c) They call an ambulance and administer first aid, free of charge.

What about an epileptic than doesn't have PHI because of his pre-existing condition. If he happened to have a seizure whilst visiting someone in a private hospital, which of the above would apply?

[Aaliyahsmummy]

Check if you health fund has single parents cover. This is what I got, as its cheaper then family, but still covers baby if something does go wrong!

For us, there isn't much need for dh to have private health, and at the moment its a extra cost we can do without:)

[TripleTime]

If something happens to a visitor of a private hospital, they at transfered to the closest public.

OP - i personally would get family cover before hand. A day in special care costs over $6000, if they are admitted as a private in a public, your up for those thounsands. The care is no different.

We pay the same amount each month for 5 people as we did for 2 & 1.