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.  

pinktorridora

Yes, I discovered this after a long conversation with our insurance too. I have already met my deductible for the year with our portion of ultrasounds and was under the impression we would have no costs for L&D. Well, just like you, our child will be billed under his/her own name and will therefore be subject to his/her own deductible. My free baby has turned into a $500 baby. Because, ya know, money grows on trees! And yes I'm aware we are spoiled with a $500 deductible but we never even had one before last year with our insurance and we are still a little sour about it.

Saratiff

Not sure if all insurance is this way but we have a family plan for my husband and I and baby girl will be added to the family plan. We pay a 3,500$ deductable as a family unit that we have met. It would seem odd to me that the new baby would have to meet their own deductable but I will look I into that.

Savanna111911

I had wondered about that as well. The downer for us is that because DH and I are state employees our insurance goes by fiscal year and not calendar year, meaning that our deductibles started over July 1. But we do have pretty good insurance and should still only have several hundred dollars to pay but it is still a bummer.

jessieR358

Yes, the baby is billed separately the moment he/she is born. Pretty standard for American insurance policies.

qtjo5

Sooo do you add an unborn child to your insurance plan? How do you get them covered so that their bills aren't an issue?

SewSewBlessed

You call as soon as you can, after baby is born, & add him/her.

qtjo5

SewSewBlessed said:

You call as soon as you can, after baby is born, & add him/her.

Thanks I will make sure DH takes care of this while I am in recovery!

cdch820

That's odd. My baby's expenses are covered by my insurance until 10 days old.

ANGELAV310

My insurance told me by baby will
be covered for 31 days after delivery then we have to officially ad him to the policy.

jtenkorang

We have insurance that has a deductible or 1650. Per person. I am having twins so yes we will each need to meet that. There is also an out of pocket max of 6500 I believe so we will be paying at least that much. But we do have a family deductible of 3000 I believe. So even if each person has a deductible the family deductible kicks in first. I've had ultrasounds every month/twice a month so far and am now starting every week and sometimes twice a week ultrasounds due to twins. So yes I have met most of these numbers already but it's still a ton of money!!!

Bugs1718

It depends on the insurance plan, ours says that baby is covered under my hospital fees as long as we are there together. If I were to get released first and baby had to stay for some reason, she would start accruing her own charges. Also, we have a family plan because we are already a family of 3 so adding the new baby doesn't change our deductible or maximums. If it was just DH and I on our insurance than it would have changed when we added a child. It's best to check with your insurer as plans are all different.

FYI, it is a requirement though for all insurances that you add baby within 30 days of birth. It's considered a qualifying event so that's why you can make changes. If you don't add baby within those 30 days though, you have to wait until open enrollment.