How much does it cost to have a private pregnancy in Australia?
A major difference between delivering publicly and privately is cost. A Medicare-covered public birth is generally free. With a private birth, your insurer and Medicare will pay a majority of the costs, but you’ll still have out-of-pocket expenses and they usually amount to thousands of dollars.
Here’s what you’ll pay for:
- A portion of procedures. For every procedure covered by Medicare and your private cover, there may be an additional amount that you have to pay. That’s because private doctors set their own prices, and these can go above what is covered. The exact amount depends on what kind of gap cover arrangement your doctor has with the insurer, but you can expect to have a gap of between $1,000 and $5,000 for your OB's deliver fee alone.
- Tests. Medicare largely won’t cover tests performed in a private clinic, like bloodwork, ultrasounds and genetic testing, although you will get a rebate for things like your 18-week morphology scan. The rebate won't cover the full case , but it will be up to you to pay the remainder. Your OB may be able to refer you to bulk-billing clinics if one is available. You can expect to pay between $150
- Fees. Medicare largely won’t cover any additional fees like accommodation fees, theatre fees or your doctor’s admin fees. Again, you private cover will take care of some of this, but there may be a portion you’ll need to pay out-of-pocket.
- Medications. If you need medication that is not part of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, you will have to pay for it whether you use public or private.
Key statistics
- On average, Australians spent $726 for childbirth in the public system, according to our parenting report.
- Those with private health insurance had an average of $2,400 in out-of-pocket expenses.
- Almost 2 in 5 (38%) people surveyed said the quality of treatment and care in public is just as good as it is in private.
- Although, the number 1 reason parents say they would go private for their next birth is for better quality of treatment or care, closely followed by the ability to choose their own OB.
- You can get health insurance for pregnancy from $216 a month. You'll need to hold a policy for 12 months before you are covered.
- The average bronze hospital cover premium is $98.84 a month for a single policy (without pregnancy cover) compared to the average gold hospital cover premium of $219.35 a month for a single policy (includes pregnancy cover).