Houston Babies

pregnant no ins?

We recently moved to Houston and although I was blessed enough to find a job quickly, my employer does not offer benefits. Dh and I were hoping to TTC this December under my old insurance policy but the cobra on it was outrageous. 
We do not meet the income requirements for Medicare. 
The individual policies I have looked at all only offer coverage for the hospital stay and while that is fine the deductible is 10k.
 I am wondering if anyone knows if it is even worthwhile to add the maternity rider to an individual policy..it makes the payment go up to about $475. I am wondering if it would just be better to pay myself that $475 a month in a little pay for baby account and just have the cash ready to pay the bill.
I am also curious if anyone had a baby without any insurance and did self pay.  
DH is currently still in school and works a job that does not offer insurance to part time employees.  
WDYT?  
Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker on my phone

Re: pregnant no ins?

  • You probably need to call your OBGYN and hospital and see if they offer cash discounts for services. I know a girl that paid cash up front but she knew she was having a regular delivery and would pay later if she had to have a c-section.
    Lilypie First Birthday tickers
  • I have found an obgyn that does selfpay and you just pay as you go...however the labwork is separate. I have found three hospitals that let you pay in payments beforehand. I do not know, though, if you are self pay if they REQUIRE you to pay upfront. 

    Do you know if she had any ins coverage or she was totally self pay? 

    **ETA no one mentioned anything about a discount for paying all at once. That's interesting. I will call back and ask them 

    Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker on my phone
  • Loading the player...
  • Can you DH get student insurance coverage through his school?
    Image and video hosting by TinyPic Lilypie Fourth Birthday tickers Lilypie First Birthday tickers
  • are you ready to pay over 10 grand in out of pocket costs at the minimum?

    what about if there are complications with the baby? i would think about these before ttc......you just never know what may come....... 

  • PAGASPAGAS member

    Have you considered waiting until your DH is out of school and in a job with benefits before having a child?

    Finley Anne ~ 11.9.2008
    image
    So Tasty, So Yummy
  • imagelonghorngal:

    are you ready to pay over 10 grand in out of pocket costs at the minimum?

    what about if there are complications with the baby? i would think about these before ttc......you just never know what may come....... 

    These are my thoughts too.   

    You never know what can happen during a pregnancy.  We all hope and pray we have healthy pregnancies and healthy babies and I wouldn't wish any less on anyone BUT what happens if you have a 28 week old baby that has to spend 3 or 4 months or more in the NICU?   Are you prepared for THAT bill?  

     

    Lilypie - Personal pictureLilypie Fourth Birthday tickers Lilypie Premature Baby tickers Lilypie Angel and Memorial tickers image image image
  • Once the baby is born, is he/she not covered by some governmental program if there's no insurance? If you have to self pay, going with a midwife is probably the most cost effective route as well as having a homebirth. Don't know if that's something you'd be comfortable with.
  • Ditto the midwife option. Midwives will do a homebirth and all visits pre and post partum for a small fraction of what a OBGYN and hospital charge.

    I know a family that had no insurance and had 4 kids at home. It is something to consider if you are comfortable with it.

    There are plenty of people who have babies everyday without insurance.

    Good luck!

  • imageBritanyV:
    imagelonghorngal:

    are you ready to pay over 10 grand in out of pocket costs at the minimum?

    what about if there are complications with the baby? i would think about these before ttc......you just never know what may come....... 

    These are my thoughts too.   

    You never know what can happen during a pregnancy.  We all hope and pray we have healthy pregnancies and healthy babies and I wouldn't wish any less on anyone BUT what happens if you have a 28 week old baby that has to spend 3 or 4 months or more in the NICU?   Are you prepared for THAT bill?  

     

    That is exactly what I was going to say.  We have really good insurance, plus part of DS's hospital stay and was covered by SSI (because of his prematurity) and what we had to pay out of pocket was still a TON.  I know that you expect to have a normal, healthy pregnancy and I certainly hope that is the case, but you have to plan for all situations.

    Kelly, Mom to Noah 8.27.05 (born at 26 weeks)
    image
  • If your husband is open to changing jobs, Starbucks offers insurance coverage to even part time employees.  I'd search out a part time job that would have benefits.
  • mom2llmom2ll member

    Hospital bills can really add up fast.  I believe a normal vaginal delivery with a one night stay runs about 7-10K.  I had 2 inductions with epidurals and JUST THE HOSPITAL was about 12K.  I have no idea what the OBGYN bills ran.  I had some issues with #1 which required a lot of monitoring and an induction and I'm sure that wasn't cheap.  Honestly, I wouldn't have a baby without insurance.  What if your baby has some issue?  I'd rather be able to focus on my child without freaking about the expense.  It could seriously ruin you. 

    I have a close friend with a sick child.  She has insurance but it's a PPO and she has to pay 20%.  She owes the hospitals over $600,000...  yes, that's THEIR PORTION.  They daugher is terminal.  When it's all said and done they will be left with grief and a bill that they will pay on for the rest of their lives and never be able to pay in full.

  • That would be a scary thing for me to do. Just consider that there are a lot of potential medical events when you're pregnant. These are some of the main ones during pregnancy and the first year of baby's life that we experienced. (And, my kids are healthy, thankfully):

    Ante-partum (in-hospital bed rest due to complications)

    Costs of delivery

    NICU stays

    Visiting specialists (like pediatric cardiologists and ultrasounding hips on breech baby) 

    E/R visits for me and baby post-partum

    Early pediatric appts

    Ear tubes

     

  • imageBettyJoe:

    Ditto the midwife option. Midwives will do a homebirth and all visits pre and post partum for a small fraction of what a OBGYN and hospital charge.

    I know a family that had no insurance and had 4 kids at home. It is something to consider if you are comfortable with it.

    There are plenty of people who have babies everyday without insurance.

    Good luck!

     

    We had one of our babes with no insurance. Midwives and  homebirths are the most financially sound option if you are healthy and low-risk, as they cost just a fraction of hospital births. 

     

    It depends what your comfort level is, though. I, also, would ask about what they would charge at a hospital if you were paying out of pocket. 

  • Ditto lilycat.

    We racked up an $80K bill thanks to one bull*** blood sugar reading and a nurse on a power trip. We currently have private insurance (no maternity) and were going to be a one-and-done family because we were looking at ~25K for prenatal care + baby #2 via a "routine" c-section.

    I know my OB office has you sign a contract - when my insurance coverage was in limbo (waiting on COBRA application to be processed), they wanted me to sign one that basically said that out-of-pocket standard prenatal care with labs was $3000 - for the last half of my pregnancy.

    If you think you'll come into group insurance in a couple years, I'd consider waiting. If you end up with an unexpected c-section or other complications, those costs will climb really, really quickly.

    Good luck to you!

  • I would try to wait until I had insurance for the whole thing. I'm too much of a worrier, and the "what ifs" can be tremendously expensive even with insurance.
    Warning No formatter is installed for the format bbhtml
  • I had a mostly uncomplicated pregnancy (I was monitored for BP issues at the end, but that ended up not being an issue), birth and hospital stay. We waited for two hours just for my son to be 24 hours old so we could leave the hospital. At that time we also had, what I considered to be, pretty decent health insurance.

    Our OOP costs for prenatal care as well as the birth (vaginal) and hospital stay were over $6000. Part of that was due to the fact that my son was born in January, so I paid two deductibles, but it's still FAR less than what we would have paid if we didn't have health insurance. My portion of my epidural was $1000 alone.

    My son was exceptionally healthy, I was healthy and we had no complications. We were EXTREMELY lucky. I would really try to find a p/t job that offers benefits (kat mentioned Starbucks, I have a few friends that work there and they have great benefits for p/t employees) so you at least have some sort of insurance. Even small complications can escalate quickly and in turn cost you a LOT of money and I can't imagine that anyone would want to go through the emotional hell of having an unwell baby with the financial aspect in the back of their mind.

    But whatever you choose, I wish you luck!!

    Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker Pregnancy Ticker
  • Home Depot is also supposed to have good ins.  I wouldn't do it.  We spent around $3k with decent ins, a c/s and a healthy baby.  I know people probably do it all the time but having that much debt (unless you can pay up front) by choice just isn't something I'd want to do.

     

    Having a baby comes with all sorts of unknowns.  Sure you can try for a midwife and home delivery, but you never know what might happen and then you could end up with a $100k birth.  I mean, it is a personal decision, but not one I'd make.

  • I would be pretty cautious, too.

     

    My pregnancy was complicated but uncomplicated at the same time. I had an ER visit early on and was diagnosed with a subchorionic hematoma. I ended up seeing my OB AND a perinatalogist. I had many many ultrasounds and weekly monitoring from 30 weeks on. I was perfectly healthy and the baby was perfectly healthy, but we had to make sure.

     

    Then I ended up with a huge child who wouldn't drop and had a c-section instead of the vaginal birth we'd planned, and the baby spent 2 days in the NICU because of fluid in her lungs and a marginal glucose screen. The bill I've seen so far is over 15K from the hospital alone. My claims from this pregnancy so far have been over 23K. I'm sure there may be some more. 

    imageimage

    image
  • thanks everyone. all of these huge cost numbers are pretting infuriating considering there is a house around the block from where i know for a fact the lady had four kids totally free on medicare. it's a little off to me that if i quit my job then we'd be able to have a free baby and then WIC and then CHIP (free health care for the baby up to the age of 2)

    there surely must be some insurance company that offers an individual policy with a decent maternity rider. although after reading this, that Assurant rider with its tiny 10k deductible doesn't seem so bad and actually maybe average.

    eta: i am also 100% into a midwife or homebirth. i have looked at nativiti and sage i am looking at your blog right now.

    i REALLY appreciate everyone's open-minded advice and support. I also really appreciate everyone sharing their experiences. thanks!

    Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker on my phone
  • PAGASPAGAS member
    imageharper818:

    thanks everyone. all of these huge cost numbers are pretting infuriating considering there is a house around the block from where i know for a fact the lady had four kids totally free on medicare. it's a little off to me that if i quit my job then we'd be able to have a free baby and then WIC and then CHIP (free health care for the baby up to the age of 2)

    It's not free.  We ALL pay for their kids. 

    Finley Anne ~ 11.9.2008
    image
    So Tasty, So Yummy
  • yes i know how it works. i meant free to HER.
    Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker on my phone
  • We have private health insurance (self employed) but I did not have maternity. Prenatal, hospital and medication with emergency c-section ended up around 30k. Interestingly - if I had major complications with the pregnancy they would have been covered with my insurance. As I had an easy, healthy pregnancy (with the exception of the emergency C), it was not covered. Also, I was able to add the baby to our existing coverage as soon as she was born.
  • Annkiwi, may I ask which private health insurance  you had? That sounds so weird that they would cover a complicated pregnancy but not a regular..Did you ever consider adding a maternity rider?  They did not cover anything at all as far as hospital stay/procedure for you? And nothing for the c section? 
    Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker on my phone
  • So, I don't recommend doing it with out insurance, but it can be done. My OB/GYN offered a 25% cash discount on each visit as long as a certain amount was paid by a certain date. lab fees were separately billed.

    I could prepay monthly for the hospital. I delivered at Memorial Hermann-katy  The quote i received was @ $5000 vaginal if prepaid/$7000 if after. C-section was @ $8000 pre-paid/$10,000 after. Epi ran @$5000 bill after. DS bill prepaid was @$1200/$1500 after w/ circumcision I was induced as well and ended up in an anti=pardum room for a day. I delivered 12/22 and went home 12/24. They had wanted to keep me until the next day since i had a c-section but I was doing really well and convinced them to go home early; plus it was Christmas.

    We did not qualify for medicare,HOWEVER while there...in fact I was about to deliver when the rep walked in, we did end up qualifying for Medicaid which would pay for the hospital stay and the like. That part totaled @$14,000.They would pay all but $5000 of that.

    My total outstanding bills after coming home, including the hospital/Dr/labs until medicaid gets its head out of its arse totaled @ $23,000.

    So imagine if you were to stay the full run at the hospital and had issues or the baby has issues. If you can wait till you have insurance, it'll certainly be less stressful and cheaper in the long run.

    Warning No formatter is installed for the format bbhtml
  • Have you read/heard about this story: https://www.khou.com/news/local/Kingwood-mom-who-lost-limbs-during-childbirth-returns-home-94894344.html

    Crazy stuff can happen!  If I didn't have insurance, I wouldn't have a kiddo. 

  • Keep in mind that many individual insurance plans require you to have the maternity rider for 1-2 years before they will cover anything maternity related.
    Warning No formatter is installed for the format bbhtml
  • imageharper818:
    Annkiwi, may I ask which private health insurance  you had? That sounds so weird that they would cover a complicated pregnancy but not a regular..Did you ever consider adding a maternity rider?  They did not cover anything at all as far as hospital stay/procedure for you? And nothing for the c section? 

    Many people have said what I would so I'll address this question since I'm in the health insurance business.  The reason complications are covered is because they are medically necessary to save the mother or child's life they are billed under your medical insurance not the maternity portion.  Complications however are very specifically defined, and it doesn't happen very often that your bill would fall in that category.

    Maternity riders aren't meant to pay for all of your bills.  It's really to ensure that you get care during your pregnancy.

  • I am not looking into jumping getting pregnant without insurance. I am actually shopping for coverage as an individual. I made a mistake by being so literal when I  said that some policies were so expensive that it almost seemed better to just save the premium myself and be able to pay cash. (for example some policies with a rider cost $585 a month and a year paying that premium equals $7k plus a 10k deductible = 17k) Also we are not currently ttc. I said we were planning on ttc this december but I did not want to pay the cobra fees. I do not think it is cheap to have a baby and I am fully aware that there is the possibility of complications. 

    My employer does not offer benefits and I am here for at least another year until DH is out of school and we relocate again. I still have to get an individual policy and I would like for it to include some Maternity/Prenatal coverage just in case. I know that I am not the only person in the world who does not have insurance. Maybe I am just being sensitive but I really felt like this post turned into "this person is a total moron who thinks its ideal to birth children without insurance and did you know you can get flesh eating bacteria and lose your limbs while delivering a child?!? and then your baby could die and you would still have to pay your bill!" which could still happen if i had insurance. and i could still go into debt because of it if i had insurance, which it sounds like many of you are dealing with now. Thanks for all of your help and advice and sharing of your experiences though. I get where you all are coming from...which is why I am being proactive and seeking coverage now. I do hope that we do not get any surprises and stay pregnancy free until dh is out of school..hopefully he gets a job that offers spectacular benefits and this is not an issue for us anymore. I heard there is BCBS policy where having a baby costs $1.

    *eta: it is prob my fault for not making it super clear that even though we were planning to ttc this december under my old fantastic insurance we are no longer planning ttc. however, i would like to have an individual policy if its worth it...and obviously i can see from this post that any discount from any sort of insurance is 100% totally worth it because anything baby related gets expensive fast.  

    ALMOND1123: thanks almond. I have only found one rider ..offered by Assurant. The deductible is 10k. Now I am looking at Comprehensive Major Medical Plans that do have the complications super specifically defined. I know they aren't going to pay all of the bills, I am mainly concerned about a lowering a hospital stay and at least the option of some complication coverage. this site has been helpful:  https://maternityplans.blogspot.com/ I am curious to hear your opinions on that angle.  It looks 

    Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker on my phone
  • imagealmond1123:

    imageharper818:
    Annkiwi, may I ask which private health insurance  you had? That sounds so weird that they would cover a complicated pregnancy but not a regular..Did you ever consider adding a maternity rider?  They did not cover anything at all as far as hospital stay/procedure for you? And nothing for the c section? 

    Many people have said what I would so I'll address this question since I'm in the health insurance business.  The reason complications are covered is because they are medically necessary to save the mother or child's life they are billed under your medical insurance not the maternity portion.  Complications however are very specifically defined, and it doesn't happen very often that your bill would fall in that category.

    Maternity riders aren't meant to pay for all of your bills.  It's really to ensure that you get care during your pregnancy.

    This exactly. Thanks Almond :)

    Harper, I hope you get the information you need to make the right decision for your family. There are so many responsible options out there - contrary to what a few might think and express. Good for you for researching.

    edited to add- I looked into adding the maternity but I didn't feel it was cost effective with private insurance and I still stand by my choice.

  • My husband owns his own business, and private insurance is the way of life for a lot of folks.  My advice is to get the advice of a good broker, they will talk you through the ins and outs and whether the maternity rider makes sense--make sure to ask about what qualifies as "complications of pregnancy" vs. trad maternity coverage and also get her to confirm how long a newborn will be covered under your own policy after birth as most policies do this as a matter of course.  If you would like the name of one, feel free to PM me.
  • thanks quartz and ann! i am working with a broker now who is full of good info!
    Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker on my phone
This discussion has been closed.
Choose Another Board
Search Boards
"
"