emmakc1977

My sister-in-law has just found out she's pregnant, they moved over to Oz in November. She has medicare and wondered how much you have to pay for antenatal care and to give birth in Australia? They don't have internet access at the moment so I said I'd log on and get some advice for her! They live somewhere called the Entrance which is about an hour or so from Sydney.

She said you can claim back medical costs on medicare, but does anyone know how much you have to lay out initally and do you get it all back?

Any input would be appreciated!

Thanks.

soapy©

Hi

As your sister-in-law has medicare, all of her pregnancy, labour and post natal care is free, if she uses the public system. It'll cost her a few thousand dollars if she uses the private system. If she goes public, she may have the choice of traditional hospital care, shared care with midwife from the hopsital & GP, or birth centre care, have her named midwife caring for her throughout pregnancy, birth and when she goes home. Tell your sister in law to ask at the local hospitals which services they provide as not all hosptals offer choice.
She may have to pay for ultrasound scans but can claim some of this back.

Hope this helps

Pauline

FluffieFaerie

I went public and the only thing I had to pay for before my care was transferred to the hospital was my GP appointment and a couple of scans (about $200 a pop). You get a fair chunk of that cost back through Medicare though.

22B

And will she get the baby-bonus to help pay for the things you mentioned that aren't covered?

FluffieFaerie

I think that will depend on what visa she's on. As a permenant resident, the answer is yes although it's no longer paid in bulk but in 13 fortnightly payments and you don't get it until the baby is born and registered.

Jan4kids

[QUOTE=soapy©;7716259]Hi

As your sister-in-law has medicare, all of her pregnancy, labour and post natal care is free, if she uses the public system. It'll cost her a few thousand dollars if she uses the private system. If she goes public, she may have the choice of traditional hospital care, shared care with midwife from the hopsital & GP, or birth centre care, have her named midwife caring for her throughout pregnancy, birth and when she goes home. Tell your sister in law to ask at the local hospitals which services they provide as not all hosptals offer choice.
She may have to pay for ultrasound scans but can claim some of this back.

Hope this helps


This is my experience too....no outlay, just a small amount for scans. Level of care was excellent, they seemed to have all the time in the world for me :0) I ended up having a caesarian too at no extra cost.

My experience was in Adelaide in 2005.

Jan

mpgrewal

Heard there a lot of Medicare restrictions during first two years of you as a permanent resident. Means the medicare which a new PR gets has less cover than a say 5 years old resident or citizen..

I was wondering if it will affect any of the pregnancy costs. Has any new PR got most of her pregnancy costs reimbursed via medicare?

mika24me

not unless they have recently changed the rules (which is of course possible). I had a baby in Oz in 2004 as a PR of less than a year and all costs were covered, including scans which were done in the public hospital.

MacScot

A six-pack of beer in Melbourne or a potato chip in Sydney..I think

soapy©

If you have medicare you are covered for everything in the public system. The only thing you may have to get done privately is ultrasounds, depending on the hospitals policy, some do scans some don't. This is all done to budgets. Oh and you don't get free dental treatment as you would have in the UK.
Pauline

soapy©

An expensive date then
Paulinex

Iwannabethere

I landed at 28 weeks pregnant on PR visa in Nov 2008. Had an elective C-section. No charges. I had checking scans at my Ob-Gyn appts but wasn't charged. No formal scans though - no time!!! I gave birth at 38 weeks.

mpgrewal

Great!! Thanks for sharing your helpful experiences.

JAJ

You are thinking of certain welfare payments which have a 2 year waiting time for non-citizen. There is no difference for Medicare.

adeelak

I am in sort of similar situations and I am migrating to Brisbane in next 3-4 weeks with my wife who will be 28-29 weeks pregnant by then.
Kindly if some one could answer

1) Did medicare covers all the pre - post natal and birth expenses ?
2) How long it will take to register with medicare and how to register with a public hospital ?
3) Does public hospitals allow this late entry into the hospitals as I see on the websites PR holders were asked to register at 16th week ?
4) Which are the good public hospitals in Brisbane ?
5) Can I register in a hospital with out medicare card as I presume it might take some time to get the medicare card.

Thanks in advance if any one could help me out with this.

--regards

ADEEL