when to registering baby for private health cover

[shirleysmum]

Hi everyone

I'm just wondering when everyone else registered their baby with private health cover? I'm with MBF. They say to add the baby-to-be as soon as the pregnancy is confirmed to ensure that the baby is also covered immediately at birth. I'm hoping to leave it as long as possible for financial reasons, as I'm guess our premiums will increase significantly. Does anyone else have any experiences with this area?

Thanks in advance for any comments!

[myhusbandswife]

We already had family cover so she was already covered once she was born. When we were ready we just went in to have her name added to our card

[Sonja]

hi shirleysmum

I'm with HBA and only have to register once the baby is born. I do know on other threads some women with different health funds had problems as they hadn't notified their health fund before they gave birth. Technically the baby is the patient not the mother when you're in the maternity suite so I guess it makes sense to be covered from an early time, but I know what you mean about the cost.

Sonja

[EarthAngel75]

It will all depend on your health fund and if you an your dh have seperate health cover or are already combined.

For us my DH and I already had combined health cover so all we had to do was add baby within a week of him being born. I do know though that with most funds (if not all) that if you and DH do not share combined health care you usually have to notify the fund immediatly on finding out that you are pg or baby will not be covered. If you're going into a private hospy it's REALLY important that your baby is covered because if they need SCN/NICU and are not covered you will be out a very large amount of money (would well be in excess of $10,000). In my DIG I think more than half the bubs spent at least 1 night in SCN after birth for various reasons.

[MrsTiggyWinkle]

call your health fund and ask them, it depends on the fund and what cover you have. Just ask hypothetically, it won't cost anything. Also its a good time to look for cheaper quotes, and your fund may match it or give you a couple of free months just to keep your custom... Mine did!

[shirleysmum]

Thanks everyone for that info. I really appreciate your comments before I ring our health fund tomorrow with a hypothetic. And Annamac, I think I will do abit of shopping around and do some negotiating! I've never been very good at that, so I'll see how we go! Fortunately my partner and I are on the same cover, and I need to make sure that baby will be covered....we are expecting twins so there is an increased risk of needing SNICU.

Thanks very much! Good luck to everyone, whereever you are in your journey!

[shirleysmum]

Thanks everyone for that info. I really appreciate your comments before I ring our health fund tomorrow with a hypothetic. And Annamac, I think I will do abit of shopping around and do some negotiating! Thats a fantastic idea! I've never been very good at that, so I'll see how we go! Fortunately my partner and I are on the same cover, and I need to make sure that baby will be covered....we are expecting twins so there is an increased risk of needing SNICU.

Thanks very much! Good luck to everyone, whereever you are in your journey!

[Kema]

Shirleysmum - I would say that because you and your hubby are on the same cover already it wont make any difference, a family memberships is for 2 adults and as many children as they have....generally.

My DH and I were on seperate covers but took out a family membership when I was 20 weeks pg,

Ring your heallth fund because only they can tell you, funnily enough I am in the same state as Sonja and also with HBA and I was told that my baby was not a patient in hospital, I was the patient my baby was just rooming in, even though we both had to be officially discharged...:rolleyes: They wouldnt cover a Paed seeing my daughter in hospital because she wasnt a patient she was just a result of me being a patient...

MM:bee:

[Izy]

I can tell you right now that if you and your husband were covered for fertility treatment than your babies will be covered immediately on birth as you have already served 12mths minimum under a family supportive cover.

All the documentation often says a 'family cover' so people get worried that there was only 2 people on it, but as a cover that covers fertility you have already effectively been a family of two.

When calling the fund you don't need to worry about hypothetical s as no fund can discriminate in Australia based on need or projected claims. This is due to a piece of legislation outlining a 'community rating' system.

Congratulations on the twins by the way. Know that you don't need to register them as such until they are actually born- you can then call with names and dates of birth. The hospital will only check you are on a family supportive cover (which you are), to see the excess/copayment and that your policy is paid up to date. Anything else gets looked into only if there is a problem with the claim (normally about a month or so down the track)

The excess is something that might be a bit frustrating with twins if you have one.

Excess is payable once per person, twice per family per calendar year with MBF. That means when you go in you pay excess, and if another person is admitted they pay excess too, but anyone after that has no excess to pay at all.

Multiple births automatically attract excess for the second child.

Hope that helps. :thumbsup:

ETA
What Mousesmum has said is spot on.
-It will not cost any more to be family with kids as the family supportive product you have now
-Your first baby will be considered almost an extension of you if there are no issues. The second baby is automatically a patient though.
Remember that as a patient of the hospital you can claim dr's from medicare and MBF, but if they're not an admitted patient (just staying with you but nothing medically wrong) than it's medicare only.

[Kema]

My DH and I were better off (financially) to stay on singles cover while we underwent IVF, then to upgrade to a family once we were pregnant, but because I was on the highest singles cover no waiting periods applied for me only DH, an since he wasnt the one that was pregnant it didnt matter :laughing:

MM:bee:

[moongazer]

Hi Shirleysmum - My fund wanted me to change to family cover 2 months before the birth of my child. This was not the due date - the birth date, so if my baby was 1 month early and I had waited until 7 months to change, then he would not have been covered.

Had I not included him on our cover, then he would have been covered for the stay with me for the first 10 days of his life, UNLESS he was admitted to a special care nursery. ALSO if I had twins, then the FIRST baby is covered, but not the second. After that hospital stay, then baby will serve all normal waiting periods as per policy.

If I added him 2 months prior to his birth (which we did), he was covered, including special care nursery and did not need to serve waiting periods.

Good luck. HTH :D

Ring your fund and ask them what their policy is. No need for hypotheticals. They can't discriminate. If they say you need to change now, ask them if this is their policy. My info I was able to get from the policy documents, which are usually available online. I'm with AHM. I also was registered into their total health package, and had access to midwives online or by phone, had books sent to me and had a lovely L'Occitane pack sent to me when bubs was born. There was also the option of an early discharge package where I may have had access to home help and midwife visits post partum. I think most health funds have some kind of program like this, which is really nice to be part of.

[petalwings]

My health fund called me- home phone and mobile after bub was born to add him- I was very impressed. A few days later a new card arrived with his name on it- even though it hadn't been registered bcos hadn't been certain about it. HBF is awesome(but v v exxxxy$$$$$)

[trishalishous]

hbf seems to be the best choice in WA though :( (in rural areas anyways)

[Izy]

hbf is the original wa fund. The other companies struggle to negotiate with the hospys etc. Seems service providers in wa are quite loyal!