Costs of having a baby

[nikki83]

Hi,

Just thought i'd list my costs,

each app with my ob is $65 and we get about $30 back on medicare. My ob doesn't charge the pregnancy management fee and he is the only one in my area that doesn't. I rang around and most of them quoted me around $2500.

12 week scan $180- $90 back on medicare
i am almost over the safety net limit so i should get more back on my 20 week scan and the rest of my ob visits.

ob delivery fee out of pocket after PHI and medicare rebate will be $300 and i have a $400 excess.

I had my DD through the public system and all of the costs for the doctors app and the scans were the same. So this time around i am going to be paying $700 more than last time but for me its worth it, i had a terrible experience in the public hospital

Hope this helps

[kellyr]

I had my first baby at Peninsula Private and used Dr D'Mello as our ob - he was BRILLIANT!!!!! We absolutely LOVED him, but simply can't afford him second time around. Does anyone know of an ob that won't leave us $1000's out of pocket? I believe Jenny Pickering or Brian Fox could be the solution? Anyone know the fees associated with these obs?

[garfield13]

Id just give them a call. I looked into it about 6mths ago as ill only go to penninsula private. Brian foxes out of pockets were about $600 to deliver at penninsula, i think jenny pickerings were a bit more but under 1000. If u look on pp website at their obs list, i think their is a third gp that delivers there too.
We ended up deciding to go to back to our ob again even though it costs alot more now just incase anything comes up or even at the birth as the obs are alot more experienced with any complications. I know if brian fox has any issue he'll call in brett marshall

[nikki83]

Hi,

Im pregnant with no.2 due dec 27th and i am going to peninsula private seeing Brian Fox.
I think the out of pocket depends on who you have PHI with but i was told that with HBA i would out of pocket $300. Brian Fox is really lovely and my sister saw Jenny Picking for her DD and said she was also fantastic.

[kellyr]

Thank you both so much for the info! I'll be sooo happy to go back to PP - LOVED LOVED LOVED everything about it!!! Will be sad to not go back to Dr D'Mello as he was fabulous, but 1 out of 2 isn't bad ;0) Does anyone know why Brian Fox and Jenny Pickering are soooo much cheaper??? Are they GP's instead of OB's??? Not that it phases me, just curious! Thanks again. I will give them a call soon xx

[garfield13]

Yep, they are both gps who pay a large fee to penninsula private to be allowed to deliver there each year. I know brett marshall is brian foxes back up if he needs an ob not sure about jenny pickering but would be marshal, dmello or luiz as they are the only obs who work at pp

[amiee]

i am in perth and am going to sjog murdoch. i will give you the cost of this pregnancy as prices have gone up since i had ds last year and the medicare rebate has changed.

the medical safety net is about $1500 but as i am recieving ftb a i hit the medical safety net when i have spent $500 dollars on medical bills

first visit to gp to confirm i am pregnant $65 - think i received about $33 back

first visit to ob $460 - i think i got back roughly $150

planning and management fee which i paid at 20 weeks $1975 - i think i got back roughly $460 this is with the safety net.

any other visits to the ob is $110 (i will have about roughly about 7 or 8 of these as in the last month of pregnancy i will go weekly) and i am pretty sure its like $60 back this is once i have hit the safety net.

i have had two ultrasounds so far and they were $195 each. one was the nt scan and the other was a 32 week scan to see if my placenta has moved. i will require one more ultra sound in a couple of weeks, so that will probably be another $195 - i cant remember how much io got back for these.

i also pay for blood test they are normally between $70 and $130 i have had three lots so far but my dr bulked billed the last one so i have only had to pay for two. but i pretty much receive the whole amount back from medicare.

when i go to hospital i have to pay $500 excess fee to stay and we pay another $99 a night for dp to stay.

last time i had a vaginal birth with an epi and there were no out of pocket cost for me.

this time i am having a c section but the ob told me that i shouldnt have to pay any extra.

after i got home last time i received a nice big bill from ds peadatrician as he is wasnt classed as an in patient as he didnt go to the nursery. i think it was a couple of hundred for the first visit when he was born and then he also charged me everyday that he came in and seen ds which was like $100 for 3 days. but i got most of this back.

thats all i can remember for now but i am pretty sure i havent left anything out.

[gumts]

Hi All,

My very first post here. I'm 18 weeks pregnant and still have not decided whether to go public/private and seeking advice on the hospital of choice.

This is my first pregnancy and it was unplanned and I was completely surprised when I got know it as I had no clue that I could get pregnant so easily... after having some lengths chats with my DH we decided to keep the bub

DH is supporting me at the moment until I finish my uni course! so a bit tight on the $$$

Living in the eastern subs and currently visiting the RHW. We also planning to move to Inner West, probably SummerHill/Newtown area in the next 2 weeks or so depending on property availability...the rental market in the east is ridiculous.

I see that RPA is highly recommended here and I will be contacting them first thing tomorrow to check how busy they are etc. I'm guessing I wont be able to book anything until I've a valid address to live in that area.

So far, I've only had one appointment with the midwife on the 17th week, so I'm guessing there wont be any major issues with changing the hospital. Also taken 2 scans so far - all appears normal. Can't wait for the 3rd scan which suppose to reveal the sex.

Also, I didn't like the GP I visited. The hospital told me to use the midwife care instead of going through GP.

I'm on a Interim medicare setup at the moment, and will be looking into registering for the safety-net scheme, not sure if I need this if I decide to go public.

I'd like to also look into the costing involved in going as a private patient in a public setup as I would prefer to have my own toilet. Rough estimate would do. Also, will I benefit in taking up a private health if I opt to go as a private patient in a public setup?

I'm all into the idea of natural birth and would prefer this in the first instance but welcome any aid that can be given to ease the pain. ETA is 23rd Feb and Im hoping to resume uni work part-time by March, wish me luck!!

Sorry for such a long winded post and many q's... I guess I've to set time to do lot of reading up once Im done with all my assignments!! Any tips/advice is much appreciated.

TIA

[Izy]

private cover attractswaiting periods, so unless you dropped an equivelant cover from the uk, or whichever country you have comefrom, within two months, any private admission would be entirely self funded.
What you can do is talk to the hosp about if it's possible to pay a private room premium. Some hospitals do, some don't. But the thing i want to stress is that even as a private hospital you can never be gaurenteed a private room. It all comes down to availability and they can't kick someone out to fit a new private room patient if you know what i mean.

[vanessasoma]

I would reccommend going public if you want to avoid a c-section. The stats on private pts going to c-section aren't great, about 50% in private compared to about 15% public. Ask your midwife for the hospital stats of where you are looking at booking in. I went private and it went to c-section. I'm not sure if they would have pushed me for a natural birth in public, but statistically speaking, it's likely. That said, I was happy with the final result. Just letting you know that info though. If you REALLY want a natural birth, statistically, its a lot more probable if you go public.