The Federal Government has included subsidised medical indemnity insurance for midwives working in hospitals and private practices in the 2009/10 Budget announced last week.

Midwives have not had access to professional indemnity (PI) insurance since 2002/03, when Australia faced a medical indemnity crisis that resulted in large premium increases.

The Government had previously proposed changes that would require midwives in private practice to have PI insurance by mid-2010, but put the onus on medical insurers to provide the cover – despite the fact that the premiums would likely be too high for most midwives.

Australian College of Midwives spokesman Hannah Dahlen told insuranceNEWS.com.au this is a positive sign for women who wish to homebirth, despite the Government excluding homebirthing from its budgetary announcement.

“We may be able to negotiate individual contracts with another insurer that would cover the couple of women a year or more that want to have a homebirth,” she said.

“A woman could say she wanted a homebirth but book in at a hospital, have her midwife provide her antenatal and postnatal care, which is Medicare-rebatable, but for the actual birth organise to pay a separate fee herself.”

Professor Dahlen says the college will still have to see what comes of the Government’s review of maternity services, but believes it will not be made illegal for midwives who assist in homebirths if they aren’t covered by insurance.

“That would be a fundamental abuse of human rights,” she said. “You just couldn’t do that.”