Cost of private cesarean?

[Tuscany]

Help... does anyone know how much it costs to have a private cesarean if you have no health cover?

Tuscany, are you in the UK? If so, the Lindo Wing of St Mary's Hospital, also in London, is a well-respected maternity facility which combines private facilities with the best of the NHS. Are you not eligible for free UK NHS treatment?

Marina - I'm actually in Italy and although if I came back to the UK I'd qualify straight away for a cesarean, they wont give me one here until it is an emergency (did all that with ds1 - now am completely phobic of birth in general!).
I don't speak much Italian either so a private hosp. seems like my only hope.

Hmm, that sounds like a difficult situation for you, Tuscany. If you are near a big city, is there a clinic or hospital favoured by the expatriate community? Maybe there is an Ospedale Americano in Florence/Milan/Rome which might have English-speaking staff and a more patient-centred approach to antenatal care?
Or is it at all feasible for you to return to the UK for some consultations/delivery? It could turn out to be cheaper in the long run if you could make the logistics work, maybe. Is there family you could stay with?
Hopefully someone on here with experience of the health system in Italy will be able to help you, too. Good luck.

Thanks Marina,
I'm looking into the International Hospital thing now so I'll see where that gets me.
Otherwise I'll be back in old blighty for the birth. Not the best plan but I'm running out of options fast!

Is it just me that gets miffed at folk who live outside the UK - and as a result pay no tax within the UK and then decide to pop back to Blighty to have their new babies - these were probably the same people who constantly slag off the NHS and it's lack of funds.
I know of a few people who have 'left' UK to earn big bucks often tax free e.g. Dubai, Kuwait. They all seemed to return for a 'free' birth in the UK - no wonder the NHS is in such a state!!

Tuscany said she had a difficult birth first time round in the UK and is not sure she will get the birth she wants this time while she is living in Italy. She asked for advice about private delivery in Italy and I suggested that as a UK citizen, if she can't find a hospital she feels happy with out there, she might prefer to come home to where she can make herself better understood.
I didn't see her make any reference to the NHS causing her difficulties last time and I'm not sure what Gulf expatriate lifestyles have to do with her specific dilemma.

Gulf states was just as a comparison (I have relatives who live out there). Don't get me wrong, I can understand why people would prefer to be here to have their babies especially with language differences etc. but I often feel that NHS is taken for a ride when people decide to pop back to UK to have their babies when they have chosen to live outside the UK.

Jaybee,
this is a situation I've potentially been faced with a couple of times. I totally understand people's desire to return to the UK, even if the medical facilities in the country where you are working are better than at home. In the UK, you are more confident because you know the system better, and you speak the language. If anything goes wrong, you feel more confident about being able to assert yourself and complain.
As far as the money goes, even if someone's working abroad, chances are that a substantial part of their working life has been or will be spent in the UK. Also, they are likely to return at some point, so the money will end up invested in Britain and benefitting the UK economy, whether they're buying houses or pensions or whatever.
IMO, we should just regard Europe as one country now anyway!

Grrr! posts crossed again. I'm too slow writing postings that's all, the thread's always moved on by the time I've finished.

Jaybee - I understand your concern about an over stretched NHS but feel that your rant against 'ex-pats' is a little unfounded.
In my case I still pay rates, NI & tax in the UK and, although you & my GP both feel that I should be loaded because I live abroad, we have very little money indeed.
In my own way I still contribute to the UK economy & can't understand how people can think I am not entitled to medical care in my country of origin.
As for the NHS... I have never had a problem with it & since witnessing hospitals in Italy I have even more fondness for it.

Thank you Marina for sticking up for me.

SML2 - good point about the EU... and I've got a pension in the UK...

Like it or not - I'm coming home if I need to.

According to this site it's around £10k for a private, elective c-section and another £4k for pre-natal obstetric care.

When Fran Cutler was interviewed in Heat magazine about her glamourous celeb life (i.e., hanging about with Meg (whooooo?????) Matthews), she replied to the question "What is the most money you have spent in one day?" with "£10,000 on a Caesarian at the Portland hospital. I don't know if that's the definitive answer, but it's my celeb-filled contribution.

I knew reading Heat would help me help others...

Forgot to say, you also automatically get your baby's birth announced in The Times at the Portland...bargain

This is slightly off topic, but I thought NI was what paid for the NHS. Is that right? (Nosey American here, sorry.)

Where are you in Tuscany, Tuscany? We were just down there on the border with Umbria at Villa Pia (recommended by mumsnet and wonderful!) which is near Arezzo.

Hope it goes well. I know how you feel.

Oh no -- it wasn't. Truly. I did a web search and couldn't come up with anything. Um, so it's like Social Security in the US? You pay in and then don't know if it's going to pay out? Or am I missing it? I might be. I'm good at that (the missing of the point).

Bah. I feel like an idiot. Really, it's not obvious.

okay, okay.. maybe the "insurance" in the NI and the "health" in the NHS should lead me to the right conclusion.

I just erased "off to google", because I'm off to bed. I expect a full explanation in the morning when I wake up.

ha HA! And you thought I was off to bed.

Really, I was just making fun of myself. You'd have to be a lot grumpier to offend me. Thanks for the info.

ha HA! And you thought I was off to bed.

Really, I was just making fun of myself. You'd have to be a lot grumpier to offend me. Thanks for the info.

Sorry about that sobernow! I'm not used to people taking me seriously.

Anyway, Tuscany, the reason I asked is because if you pay NI then I don't see how there can be any argument that you aren't entitled to NHS services.

Hope it works out for you.

Ok Guys - have been to see my 'GP' here & she's referred me to a privte Gynie who speaks a bit of English & is sypathetic to psycological problems with 'natural' childbirth after a Ceserean so hopefully I wont be a burden to the NHS & someone else can benefit from my NI. Also I'm praying that this will be done on the Italian public healthcare system so it wont set me back £10k!
That is such a lot of money - it's a shame I'm not a celeb. mum & able to fork it out - although if I was then when Heat interviewed me I'd have to tell them about the private yaht (SP?) & sports car rather than an operation.

JJ - I'm in Pescia (in between Florence & Lucca) I was in Arezzo the other day though visiting friends. Typical - the only day of rain in the last 6 weeks!
Have you lived here long?