[baileybunny]

I was just curious, as most private health funds have a 12 month waiting period for pregnancy/obstetric benefits-

what happens say if I signed up for private health now, then in 3 months time got pregnant, meaning the due date would be somewhere around mid-Jan 2013 (meaning I would have served the 12 month waiting period based on the due date).

Lets say bub did not go 40/41 weeks but instead decided it was time to come at 30 or even 35 weeks.

Would this mean I would not get private health cover, because I would not have reached the waiting period when bubs was born, or because the 40 week due date was past the 12 month waiting period I would be covered?

I hope that all makes sense...just something I was thinking about. Ideally I suppose people would generally line up their private health cover that includes pregnancy maybe 18 months before they expected their baby to be born just to be on the safe side??

[mez70]

To be blunt YOU would not be covered until the 12 waiting period has been served even if bubs was due after that date but came early... Some funds may pay a benefit if bubs was born prem but I certainly would not be relying on that occuring as the 12 mth is a Govt legislated rule that health funds need to stick to. If the bubs was admitted in it's own right and you had family coverage the BABY and babys costs alone would be covered.

The other thing to remember is any hosp during pregnancy will not be covered so if you have really bad morning sickness and need to be admitted, or complications requiring hosp bed rest that will not be covered either..


This post has been edited by mez70: 08/01/2012, 01:08 PM

[SeaPrincess]

The other thing to remember is any hosp during pregnancy will not be covered so if you have really bad morning sickness and need to be admitted, or complications requiring hosp bed rest that will not be covered either..

This is a really good point. I spent a total of nearly a month in hospital with 3 separate admissions while pg with DS2, all of it well before his due date - PHI paid out $500/day just in accommodation, and where we were living at the time, I definitely wouldn't have wanted to be in a shared room in the public system. While you hope nothing will go wrong, you can't rely on that.

R