Cost of giving birth in Australia?

Hi,

I have just recently found a job in Melbourne-Australia. My wife is 2 months pregnant, I want to know how much does pregnancy cost in Australia, from monthly checkups to giving birth and child care. I have been inquiring health insurance companies in Australia and they say since my wife's already pregnant they will not cover it.
How much does it cost in public hospital and private hospitals?
Which is the best public/private hospital in Melbourne?
Can I have any type of medical insurance with a high premium maybe to cover pregnancy?

I will be waiting for your answers, as my decision of moving to Australia totally depends on this.

Thanks

If you are not an Australian citizen then you wont be covered by medicare (our public medical system). I think that different hospitals have different charges.
Do you know where abouts in Melbourne you will be working? If so, I can let you know what hospitals are in that area and give you the contacts so that you can ask them directly.

as far as insurance goes you have to have it for at least 12 months before it will cover for pregnancies. You should call a hospital in Melbourne and ask them about the costs.

Nothing for the checkups and the delivery, it is covered by medicare. For the ultrasounds and some bloodtests there may be a charge where you pay 130 i think it is but you get i think around 70 back from medicare. The best public hospitals i think is the mercy hospital which is in the austin hospital in heidelberg and the womens which is now situated at the royal melbourne hospital in carlton or parkville. They are both women only hospitals. Private hospitals i am not to sure of but I think the mercy hospital may have a private sector for it.

This is not about the cost of having a baby in Oz but a few words of encouragement for you and you wife.
I moved to Australia when my daughter was 2 months old and my husband and I found that we were extremely well cared for...aftercare over there is second to none...you may have to pay but the treatment is fabulous.
Australia is also very baby friendly...and geared towards helping Mothers have a good time and meet other parents....I wish you luck.

my husband and i inquired into the private hospitals and out of pocket we was looking at minimum $10,000 becuase we did not have private health insurance so we decided to go public instead, the only way of finding out how much it will cost you for public system would be to call a public hospital and tell them of your situation they can give you a figure of what your appointments will cost you and ultrasounds etc. Plus I do not live in Melbourne so i cannot comment on which hospitals are better and what ones arent .Also if you have insurance in the USA you can also ask if it will be covered here in Australia and you may not have to pay out of pocket for all of it.

As for JemsJems comment on not paying for appointments you are missimformed you must be a permenant resident or a aussie citzen to qualify for medicare coverage, you will be required to pay for all visits and testing

Goodluck

Hi there,
You will need to have private coverage I think.

If you currently have some form of private insurance then I think that one of the companies that provide insurance here may be able to recognise your current insurance and waive any waiting times. Or you may be able to pay ahead. It may be worth the ask.

We do have a medicare system that will cover some people. You will need to check to see if you are coming from a country that is covered by an agreement.

I have given you some links to help you. I would ask the people who will be able to give you a definitive answer.

Please do consider coming here for your family as it is a great place to have children.

Best of luck with finding the information you need.

as far as insurance goes you have to have it for at least 12 months before it will cover for pregnancies.

Public hospitals are generally free, depends were you are comming from to wether you will be covered by our medicare system.

I love Australia, it is such a great place to be and build a family.

Private hospitals would probably cost you around 10,000.00 Aus dollars (may be a bit less)

We have a great public system ( i have private insurance but more than happy to give birth in a public hosptial)