Pregnant friend with no maternity coverage...help

7miles

I just found out a good friend of ours is about 4 weeks pregnant (she's on an almost identical schedule to my pregnancy last year, how cool).  She is tickled, but wasn't exactly expecting such great news right now.

Do any of you girls have any advice for handling OB and delivery with no insurance?  Apparently, she has Blue Cross, but with no maternity coverage.  Insurance is a subject that intimadates the hell out of me to be honest, so ANY help will be much appreciated.

Evans

Once nark settles in with Simone, you should definitely get in touch with her. ?I know she handled this and it was (honestly from what I recall of her post) a giant PITA as the providers were hard to work with at times.

She will have to find a provider and I am sure they can give her estimated costs and set up a payment plan. ?She will then need to do the same with the hospital, etc.

I also believe she will need to figure out from her insurance company what is maternity and not maternity. ?Don't quote me on this cause every company is different, but I believe charges once the baby is born (and the baby itself if she adds her/him) are non-maternity. ?

flamencogal

I think this happened to a coworker of mine and they were able to add a maternity rider to their policy.  It cost quite a bit but they did the math and it was still less than paying out of pocket for all the OB stuff.

MissMalo12

I ran into a similar problem when I found out i was pregnant.  If she can qualify for medicaid she should look into that.  It it usually pretty easy for pregnant women to get it.  If she can't get medicaid she should find the doctor she wants to use and let them know she doesn't have maternity coverage and they are usually very good at helping out by cutting some fees or setting up a payment plan.  I was also told to check out a birthing center as they are much much cheaper than delivering in a hospital. 

Does her husband get insurance through his work? Pregnancy is not considered a pre-existing problem for group help insurances and maybe she could be added to his?  

Tell her that the social worker at the OB office is a very good person to contact about these issues. 

<3cici<3

The birthing center in Chapel Hill costs only about $6000 for self-pay, plus some lab fees (and it doesn't include cost if you need to get transferred to the hospital).  But overall, not a bad budget for self-pay.  And they'll work with you on a sliding scale and/or payment plan.  Also, definitely look into Medicaid for pregnant women. 

BlairWaldorf

I know that my insurance has no special "maternity coverage," but all maternity is covered under general insurance.

So everything I do from OB visits to bloodwork to actual hospital stay for L&D will be filed under general insurance -- I pay my deductible, then 20% for everything up to my out-of-pocket-max.

nark

popping in first with a disclaimer -- I PROMISE birth story and pics by Monday. I'm just slightly preoccupied with the most fascinating little person on the face of the earth right now.?

Like pp's said, your pal may be eligible to add the rider if they're on group insurance through work. DH and I work for ourselves though and have private BCBS coverage with no maternity. We've done self pay all the way. We don't have the FINAL tally yet, but it's really looking like we're coming out neck and neck with the costs we would have paid for the private maternity coverage (monthly premiums + copays + coinsurance + deductible). It was annoying deciding on our provider, but it's all worked out great in the end. (Well, saying this before all the final bills have arrived...)

Feel free to give your friend my email: erinewalters at yahoo dot com.?

7miles

Thanks so much for all your help on this. ?Nark, I think that will make her feel A LOT better about things. ?BTW, congrats again! ?Dying to see pics and hear the story. ?I hope you are loving your newest member of the family.