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April 2012 Moms
cuppaco
member
PSA: If you are having $ issues
cuppaco
member
This is an issue I've seen come up on several boards lately, regarding pregnancy and money troubles. The social worker side of me is posting this as a general resource for moms-to-be who may not know where to look for this information.
1) Apply for pregnancy medicaid. The income guidelines are higher for pregnancy medicaid than for "regular" medicaid. Even if you historically have not qualified for medicaid - you may qualify for pregnancy medicaid, or a share-of-cost plan (like a deductible w/ other insurance). Google your state and pregnancy medicaid for more information.
2) Apply for WIC. The income guidelines are much higher than for many other social services programs ($34K for a family of three - count the expected child(ren) as a household member). More information at https://www.fns.usda.gov/wic/
3) Look into your state's temporary assistance for needy families (TANF) programs. These can include SNAP ("food stamps" which is now a debit card), cash assistance/monthly stipend, formula/diapers, skills training/resume building, access to unadvertised jobs, and employment search assistance.
4) Look into if your state has a temporary disability benefits for pregnancy. With a doctor's diagnosis/restrictions on your ability to work, you may be able to file a claim for short-term disability due to pregnancy. This varies state-by-state.
This discussion has been closed.
Re: PSA: If you are having $ issues
You assume they were trying. Sometimes things happen. People make the best of their situation, try not to judge that.
And people lose jobs, break up with husbands etc. Lots of things can happen to make people rely on these services. That is what they are there for.
So because I suddenly got laid off, I shouldn't have gotten pregnant? Things happen that are out of our control and it's nice to know there are options available for those that might need them.
BFP#1 05/19/10 M/C 6/4/10 d/x threatened m/c 6/6/10 m/c confirmed
BFP#2 10/26/10 M/C 11/01/10
BFP#3 11/28/10 C/P 11/29/10
BFP#4 02/23/11 M/C 3/1/11
BFP#5 08/13/11 EDD 04/27/12 Beta @11DPO 8.79 Beta @13DPO 36 Beta @17DPO 179 Beta @20DPO 679!! 6w3d hb 116 bpm! 8w3d hb 164 bpm! 10w4d hb 177-187 NT scan 12w2d hb 173-everything looks great! 14w4d-everything still looks great! A/S scheduled for 12/12!
Our rainbow baby is here!! Emmalynn Anne born 4/27/12 via unplanned c-section
BFP#6 Surprise! Here comes baby #2! Harper Elizabeth born 12/17/13 via c-section
I believe what they are saying is that people get laid of AFTER they get pregnant too. And being upset at people that abuse the system is understandable, but don't take that frustration out on people who really do just need a little assistance to get through a rough patch. Today you can live off your husbands salary. But what happens when he gets laid off next week and you can no longer afford that? You'll be pretty thankful that these systems are in place to help you out.
Can't help but agree.
Sure, "stuff happens" - but an awful lot of people have zero self-efficacy and use "stuff happens to me!" as an excuse for irresponsibility and lack of effective planning. And then they expect someone else to pay for it. It is so much easier to live irresponsibly when you can pay for the consequences with other people's money.
Also, if you qualify for medicaid, you qualify for WIC regardless of your income. So if for some reason in your state or county the WIC guidelines are too low but you qualify for medicaid, you cang et the WIC anyway.
I use medicaid. I did for my last pregnancy and I will for future pregnancies. My husband works in an industry that doesn't regularly provide insurance. I don't get pregnant to have insurance, I get pregnant to have children. In order to not be bankrupt I use medicaid to cover my healthcare and my childrens healthcare.
In this day and age it is impossible for my husband and I to pay OOP for healthcare or private health insurance. We can afford to provide everything else for our child/ren so we rely on the money we pay in property taxes and state taxes and use medicaid. I also get WIC. It's funny because in our county they have a "goal" number of families to enroll in the program and they aren't even at that goal. So, at least in my area, women are not using the program as much as they could be so I highly doubt people are abusing it. We use it to pay for some dairy and cereal and fresh veggies and use the money we save to buy meat and more veggies. We don't get food stamps, because we do eat out about 2 times a week (once on wednesday night for our date night and once on the weekend at Subway or cheap take-out chinese.) and I don't feel like it would be appropriate to ask the state to pay for my food when I could be saving the money that we spend eating out to buy groceries at home (and we don't struggle to get groceries at home because of the two times we eat out)
This pregnancy was planned. My last pregnancy was planned. Future pregnancies will be planned. I will gladly use the benefits available to me.
Also, and this makes me laugh a lot, women who work to get insurance and be able to pay for food and groceries without having to get state assistance would qualify for state-paid childcare services (whether they use it or not) that would actually cost the state MORE annually than if the woman stayed home and lived on one income and took the WIC and Medicaid! So the state would rather pay more money out to keep the kids in daycare than to pay a little less in insurance and WIC benefits and have the kids at home with a parent! How lame is that! Note, this example is based on numbers a couple of friends have told me, so it could be off, but according to the amounts they've told me it is actually more expensive to the state to help a mother work than to help keep her home.
My Husband lost his job so we applied for Medicaid in August. I really didn't want to but I had no choice. Anyway I just called yesterday to get off of it because my H got a new job and insurance starts Oct 1st and they are going to pick me up. God is amazing.
Oh and just FYI my kids wear clothes from the Gap and are on reduced lunch. I know that the gap isn't the "top of the line" but it's far from walmart. She wears them becasue I work for Gap Inc and I get an AWESOME discount. I do realize people abuse the system and it makes me sick but I just had to point that out.
I have to agree with this. Most of the students at my school receive free lunch, but have Air Jordans, iPhones and iPods, and the girls love getting their nails done, etc.
Also, last year I taught a persuasive writing unit and the students were able to select their own topic as long as I approved it. The majority of the girls chose to write about why abortion should be illegal. However, their reasons were completely ridiculous. They supported that argument with, "don't worry, if you don't have enough money because there is always welfare and foodstamps, plus if you have more kids you get more free money and dont have to ever work." Bleh! Yes, this is what was coming from sophomores.
Post - go to bed - wake up - and have caused a controversy.
I work for a state social service agency, in the dependency system. I am the attorney someone would see in Court after they have their child removed for abuse/neglect/abandonment. I *KNOW* how people abuse the system - directly from people I deal with who rather buy drugs/alcohol/luxury items than basic needs for their children. I also know that there is generational systemic poverty - where the people have no intention but to live off the system. But there are MANY hard working people using it for its intended purpose.
BUT - lately on several boards there have been many posts of "what do I do if I have no insurance", or "my job doesn't offer insurance", or "we just changed jobs and have to wait X time for insurance". Or even more posts of - I was laid off, my DH's hours were cut, or my job is seasonal, what do I do now?? These people aren't abusing "the system" - but because they may have never needed these services prior to pregnancy, they don't know what is available or where to look.
There are MANY good hard working people with hourly jobs, who don't have access to reasonably affordable insurance, and as a couple make less than $34k ($2,800 a month). This "example" couple would qualify for medicaid and WIC. Possibly some TANF assistance if there was a family crisis like an unexpected layoff or cut in hours.
These services are in place to reduce the cost of long-term care of the mother/child, by making pre-natal care and quality nutrition available. Pre-natal care increases good outcomes for mother and child - and reduces the risk of NICU, complications, hospitalizations, and overall cost to the system.
I was a full-time student and my husband and I were living off of his income with no health insurance when I got pregnant with my son while on birth control pills. Yea, maybe people do abuse the system and that sucks but your post is irresponsible and a sad generalization. Without medicaid, I would not have gotten prenatal coverage and would definitely not have been able to afford any of it or the emergency c-section I ended up having. Please dont lump all of the people who get Medicaid into one ball of irresponsibility.
ACooper18 -
Make sure (or have your parents make sure) that 1) your parents insurance covers you now that you are married [my parents' BCBS did NOT cover me after I got married] and 2) the insurance covers the baby [a dependent of a dependent] MOST insurance companies do not.
It might be best that you look into pregnancy medicaid which will cover both you and the baby.It does. New health care law and all that. Its super nice.