off_to_Oz

Hello everyone!
I've been lurking for quite some time and wondered if anyone could help me.
We are a family of 5 soon to be 6 (although not really soon!!) and wondered what the maternity care was like in Australia, as we are hoping to move across before the babe is born I would like to know about health insurance (how do you organise if you're already expecting and do they put exclusions on it?)
Will I get the $5000 'baby bonus'? as a migrant (we have a 175 visa.... just come through too!)
Is there anything else I should know about healthcare, giving birth in Australia and maternity care that you can think of?

Yours in anticipation
Ollie

alipally

Hi Ollie, welcome to BE!

If you search the forum you can usually find the answer to any question!

I found this link that you might find useful!

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...care+Australia
Ali x

alipally

has anyone got anything new to say about this?
I'm intrigued now,after reading that lot in the other thread!

Ali x

Kapri

Welcome to the Forum

If your baby is born in Australia and you are permanent residents then you will get the baby bonus.
Can't help with the other questions though.
You will get more replies if you start a new thread with a title like "Maternity care in Australia"

OBIBINI

now i have my application for 175 visa acknowledged ,no case officer allocated yet.Baby is due in late january 2009,have got medicare card though.Are we more likely to have baby bonus

Zambia

Please clarify have you a 175 VISA to Australia as in could you fly to Australia today and start work?

Plus re child care depends where you are going a fair few ABC learning centres are going under

Petals

You will have to be in a health fund for 12 months to qualify for maternity care. They all have restrictions on care if any member has a pre existing health condition too. This is to stop people joining up and using the funds and then opting out again.

TillyG

As petals says, you have to have 12mths obstetrics cover on private health care if you want to be covered (and even then you'll still be a good few thousand dollars out of pocket as insurance & medicare doesn't cover all the private costs).

We are PR (was granted in July) and I got pregnant at the end of August. I have decided to go through the public (medicare) system - but I have chosen to go private for the nuchal scan (which cost me $420 of which I got $90-ish back from medicare) and for the anomaly/morphology scan (haven't had that one yet, next Friday!). But for everything else I am going public - I am under the Group Midwife Team at my local hospital which means I have a named, dedicated midwife who I will see for every appt and who should (hopefully!) be the one who delivers the baby. If you can get under that scheme, it's fab! However, you need to book in with them as soon as you find out you're pregnant - I phoned up at 4.5 weeks (only found out so early as I knew the system here was different from the UK one I used last time) and they were getting short of spaces for my due-date!

As for the baby bonus - from 1 January 2009 it's means-tested (so if you earn over $150k, I think it is, you're not entitled to it) and also it will no longer be paid in 1 lump sum - it will be in 13 x fortnightly payments after the birth of the child. So my DH is going to have to wait a bit longer than planned for his plasma (joke!)

HTH a bit

TillyG
(18 weeks today )

OBIBINI

i am in Australia since Feb.2008 on 457,working full time and have applied for permanency 175 visa,doc received by immigration and waiting for case officer and the rest etc etc.Just don't know how if we qualify for the baby bonus and the rest.

TillyG

You will qualify for the baby bonus provided you have your PR granted before bubs is born.

If the 175 is an "offshore" visa (I don't know if it is or not) then you will have problems getting it granted if bubs is due next month as not many airlines will take you inflight at such a late stage of pregnancy. And if bubs arrives before the PR is issued then you will need to add them to the visa application (after getting them a UK, or whatever country you're from, passport first).

If you are still 457 when bubs is born, you get nothing in terms of baby bonus or family tax benefit

Zambia

Hi thanks for that

Re the baby bonus as you are still working of a 457 and probably still will be when the baby is born I would say the following.

If people on a 457 are eligible for the baby bonus then your good otherwise I think you not eligible. As I cant see you going from case officer to approved and processed in a month.

I would consult the 457 sticky for the answer to the above.

if all else fails apply for it the worse they can say is No.