Insurance FYI

erkyoung

I just had a baby in April and found out about a little hiccup in our insurance I thought it would be good to share in case there are others of you who didn't know about this. When I got pregnant, I asked my insurance rep all about labor and delivery costs and what would be covered. After the delivery we got our bills and paid up to our deductible of $500 (a total of $16,000 without insurance...wow). Now, three months later we have gotten a bill for $5,000 with no insurance coverage. We noticed the patient's name was my son's whereas on the other bills it was mine. After doing some calling we found out that because we went on my husband's family insurance plan instead of mine (because his has much better benefits) after the birth, any bills under our son would restart the new deductible. Of course we knew the first office visits would fall under this, but what shocked us was from the very minute he was born, he was being billed separately than me at the hospital. So, when I had asked about labor and delivery costs the insurance people only told me about mine, not my son's. I had just assumed we were covered as one for those few days in the hospital. Some parts of the bill are super silly as well, like we are both charged $3,100 for room fees when we were in the same room!

I just wanted to get this out there so that when moms-to-be are talking to insurance people, make sure to ask about the baby's coverage from the moment they're born, especially if you're switching to a spouse's insurance.  

yessirio

Ty so much for this info! I had no idea they could do that! My baby is going to my bf's insurance after she's born I guess I need to make some calls to figure it out!
Thanks! :-bd

Yiggle09

Ty! I'm not looking forward to the bills to come!

kjjellybean

Its crazy how it works. When I had DD she was due in February, so I had my deductible from 2010, 2011 and her from day 1 on. We ended up paying out of pocket over $6000 for her. This time around i know that I will eventually be on bedrest because of preterm labor history. So when that time comes i will have no income other than DH and you better believe i am going to try and get on assistance. Hopefully avoiding the out of pocket.

ehgmorse

That literally makes no sense. How can they bill twice for a one time deal?

Peony1982

ehgmorse said:

That literally makes no sense. How can they bill twice for a one time deal?

They aren't billing twice. Once the baby comes out of you, they are a separate person that needs separate care, medications, shots, etc. so it's billed as such. The bills don't have the same treatments twice, they just separate out moms and baby's treatment.

jen83mn

I had to figure this out on my own too when it came time to decide whose insurance baby was going to be on; my group work-sponsored plan requires me to have baby's insurance paperwork in no later than 30 days after baby is born. I already have everything filled out (except name, date of birth, and social security number) and will be calling my work with that info to submit the paperwork after baby is born. We will be switching baby over to DH's cheaper group plan, but we're waiting to do so until re-enrollment happens at the new year. I figured it was easiest to keep baby on mine for the first few months because of the out-of-pocket max and deductible when in the hospital for both of us and will ultimately be cheaper. Insurance is just so complicated!

WDDCH

ehgmorse said:

That literally makes no sense. How can they bill twice for a one time deal?

They're billing for baby's stay because baby is considered a separate person once born. This includes the pediatrician visiting, eye ointment, vitamin K and Hep injections, general care, etc. Your baby gets diapers, a little hat, etc. and if they're given any meds or taken to NICU thatll apply to them, not you. Basically any care baby receives is a separate bill for them.