For further information, contact Melissa Maimann at Essential Birth Consulting.
Australian families who seek specialist obstetric care during pregnancy will up to $1,830 worse off if the Australian Government does not reconsider its proposed cuts to Medicare payments before the Senate this week.
It doesn’t seem to concern NASOG that Australian families are up to $5,000 “worse off” for seeking private midwifery care. Private midwifery has never been afforded medicare benefits, despite much research that supports the role of the midwife for most women.
… Dr Hilary Joyce, President of the National Association of Specialist Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (NASOG), warned that under the Bill going before the Senate this week, all patients embarking on having a family will be worse off when they go to see their specialist obstetrician.
“All couples who undertake fertility treatments and then who need special obstetric care throughout their pregnancy will be hit harder still with the double financial whammy of fertility treatment and maternity treatment cuts to Medicare,”
I’m not clear why Hilary believes that women who have fallen pregnant through ART require ongoing obstetric care. She has made a statement without backing it up by research. I’d like to read the research that states that this is so. While pregnancies that have been achieved through ART may have risks associated with them, that is also true of every pregnancy. No pregnancy is risk-free. There’s no reason not to have midwifery care pre-emtively. If complications are detected or even suspected, the midwife will make a referral to a hospital or obstetrician, and the woman will receive appropriate care.
“We are concerned about the families who won’t be able to afford the choice of their own obstetrician because of these proposed Medicare cuts. … Will they be forced into the already overwhelmed public hospital system? …
The proposed changes prevent women from accessing the midwife of their choice. Hilary does not seem to be concerned by this. These women will also be forced into the overwhelmed public system.
Melissa Maimann, Essential Birth Consulting 0400 418 448