sky-rocketing maternity costs

mushi

mushi

Registered User
i am new to HK and just completed my first pre-natal visit with an Obs. the resulting fees made me jump out of my maternity bliss. is there any way of controlling maternity costs in HK....as in avoiding some unnecessary tests or sonography done at 5 weeks...like mine! my obstetrician wants to me to meet up every 2 weeks.....is that really necessary?? ia m paying thru my nose...someone pls. help!

also recommedations on good gynacs and obs would really help.
 
Hi Mushi,
In Hong Kong either one should have lots of money or lots of time or maternity insurance.
Private Doctors are expensive here. But as far as I know doctors in Central are more expensive than else where. I have called up many of them all over HK island, Kowloon and NT and it seemed the difference in fee + ultrasound can be staggering. As you go farther from Central costs start dropping.
Public system is for those with plenty of time and of course patience, coz the waiting time for appointments is a lot. If you have a HKID antenatal checks are free. And unless you have any risk factors they will not call you every now and then.
Private Doctors do call for ultrasound every two weeks which I think is not required, in my opinion once a month or once in 2 months is ok.
Public system will use maximum 2- 4 ultrasounds in normal cases. And the first one will be around 20- 22 weeks. So again one has to wait to see the baby for a long time.
I suggest register with a public hospital and go for antenatal visits there and also find a private doctor for once a month visits, tell her/ him your preferences for frequency of ultrasounds. And buy your own medicine from pharmacy.
Hope this helps :smile:
 
have a look at Drs with packages ie Raffles medical group in Central, that way you know exactly how much you will have to pay. Also check the hospitals as they have packages aswell for the birth. This way you will have an idea of the overall cost unless any unexpected things crop up. Otherwise go to the government hospitals. I recomment the Adventist for private.
 
You shouldn't have to see your OB more than once a month until the end of pregnancy, unless you are high risk?
They don't NEED to do more than 2-3 ultrasounds.
My Dr did do one each month, but only charged for the 3 diagnostic ones. The other visits I just paid the consultation fee.

Of course the cheapest option is to go public, where the visits are free, and the ultrasounds cost $60.
 
Hi ya

I am 19+ weeks pregnant and am currently doing a mixture of private/non-private and it has cut the cost down a lot! With governmant I am getting all the neccessary tests - so far I have paid $60 for an ultrasound. I am going to see my OB at 24 weeks, the last time I saw her was 14 weeks!

The only thing about taking non-private care is you get very little choice with appointment dates/times and an appointment can usually involve up to 2 hours waiting to see various people. Though so far this has been a bonus because it has enabled me to meet other mums or mums to be!

For me it is nice to have some private care (because I do not speak Chinese I can get from OB that i have definitely done everything that i am supposed to do by now - although they do speak very good english at the hospital anyway) but is definitely not a neccessity - as long as you have time to have slightly longer appointments.

xxxxx
 
:grouphug: dear lollypop, matty, joyofliving, and BLC,
thanks so much for yr quick advice...honestly i did not know of the public option at all...though i am a little scared of going to one since i spk no cantonese....maybe worth a try...any idea which one is close to happy valley? also waiting time could be a prob for me since i have a 3 yr old whose pre-school is only for 2 hrs so i do need to get back to pick him up. but thanks anyway....i plan to get all my tests conducted from this obs and make a change to a reasonable one right away.
mushi
 
I don't have any advise about the system in HK since my children were born in canada, but I can say that in canada for a normal pregnancy the standard is usually 1 u/s around 18 weeks or so, and a doctors appt to find out when you are pregnant, then again around 12 weeks, monthly until 30 weeks, then every 2 weeks, until 36 weeks, then weekly until you deliver. every 2 weeks with ultrasound sounds like they are asking you to come, just so they can make money. Can you just not go, except to the appointments you want to go to, or refuse so many ultrasounds?
 
Getting tests done at Pvt Ob would cost you a bomb, I remember my Ob charged me 10,000 HKD for prenantal tests. Even though I had some of them done earlier and had reports to show for, she did the tests again anyways. I think they do every test they can think of whether they are required or not. At Tsan Yuk last week they did an array of tests for me and I didn't have to pay anything.
And I agree with Capital that 2 Ultrsounds/ week is just to make extra money out of you.
 
thanks capital and joyofliving.....i have safely assumed now that we may have to pay about 50,000HKD over and above the amount we receive from my hubby's company....unless i go back to hometown to get the delivery done....keeping my options open as of now.

can someone pls. tell me how do i change my gynac....i mean just carry tests from oen to the other telling the other taht i am not ahppy with the first....does it work taht way? also is there any amount to be pd for booking hospitals??
 
Mushi, just ask for copies of all your pregnancy medical records from your current OB, and take them to your new one.
Most understand that cost is a factor inour choices here in HK.
I took almost an entire pregnancy's worth of records to Tsan Yuk when I changed from my private Dr to the public system at the end of my pregnancy.

Don't forget that this is also an option if your medical insurance doesn't cover everything.
If you have an ID card you can always deliver in a public hospital.

My bill at QMH for a 2 day stay was $250.
 
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Where ever you want to deliver you need to make sure you are registered well in advance, otherwise they will not have a bed for you!

The public hospitals are just fine here - as good as anywhere else in Europe! Although if I had the money (or any insurance at all for that matter - we do not have any for pregnancy care), if i am honest, of course I would go to a swanky private hospital LoL!!!

I hope it goes ok for you :yeah2
xx
 
Registering well in advance is not necessary for the public system.
Though of course doing this does make things easier for them so they encourage you to do this.

In a worst case scenario (though I'm sure no one would do this on purpose) even if you are not registered at all, if you turn up to emergency in labour and have an ID card they will not turn you away.

If there were really no beds at all, being registered wouldn't help anyway.
 
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