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Maternity Insurance (or lack of)
I'm investigating some potential career changes that may mean I no longer have group insurance coverage. My DH works for a small business that does not offer insurance so the whole family would be on private policies. This doesn't worry me much except for knowing I want to have at least one more kid and the private policies we've looked at don't include maternity coverage
Have any of you found private policies that have any sort of Maternity Insurance? Is this really even an option or is it outrageously expensive/not worth it?
What about not having maternity insurance at all? Just seems so risky... I had an extended hospital stay this time so I can see how the bills could add up (especially if I had to have a c-section).
Just looking for thoughts, advice.... I'd really appreciate it.
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Re: Maternity Insurance (or lack of)
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Thanks for all the input... it just freaks me out to think about paying out of pocket but I'm sure we can do it. I think if I make said change, i'll just need to start putting away as much money as possible to the HSA account.
As for this...
I don't think I'll plan anything around new healthcare laws since who knows what will have changed in 3 years.
One thing that might make you feel better (or might not, depending on the answers you get) is to call your OB's billing/financial person and ask what your doctor charges for prenatal care and delivery for self-pay. And then call the hospital and ask the same question regarding delivery, etc. You may be surprised at how different the numbers turn out when you're discussing self-pay versus billing insurance because of contracts, etc. It may be a much, much lower number.
Another alternative (which I realize may not appeal to you in the slightest) is to look at alternate birthing plans. We were able to get our insurance (after a fight) to cover our midwife & birth center, but had we had to pay out of pocket, it still would have been significantly cheaper than a hospital birth. I don't remember for sure, but I want to say our cost would have been in the $4,000-6,000 range?
Absolutely! Dh was working contract at the time I got pg last year so we didn't have insurance. The one we looked at said you had to already have the plan prior to getting pregnant so it wouldn't cover me.
The Dr and hospital gave a 25% discount for cash and prepay patients. We also worked out a payment plan so we just paid a certain amount every week or month and most was paid off before the baby was born. For the Dr. we talked to billing and the hospital, we had to register first before we could talk financial.
Very true, who knows what things will be like in three years. I'll be pretty pissed if that changes though, I mean, come on, there should be maternity coverage.
Could you get private insurance without maternity coverage and then switch to one that has maternity coverage when you plan on TTC?
Since you said that you had extended hospital stay with #1, I wouldn't risk not having insurance that covers maternity with #2. Unless you have the money to cover this cost. But with #2, my month of hospital bedrest was over $100k. It was all covered by insurance with the exception of my co pay for $500. If I was to pay that out of pocket, and asked for some kind of discount, I think we would still be wiped out financially from it. It was already hard being on bedrest at the hospital instead of home because of having a toddler at home that you can't take care of for a month, I can't imagine thinking about losing our entire savings too.
But on the other hand, if your pregnancy goes well and your labor and delivery is text book, then it may cost less than getting insurance. I just wouldn't risk it.