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TriciaChick
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Losing insurance while pregnant.
TriciaChick
member
in Parenting
My husband is a police officer and just got a lay off notice;( He is one of 16. His last day is March 24 and our insurance cuts off April 15. I am due the 16th;( We are going to try to apply for Medicade? I know nothing about this. I never thought I would have to go through something like this... I do work part time and DH will be collecting unemployment. I am worried that we may make too much just through this? Any advice? Thanks...
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Re: Losing insurance while pregnant.
I don't have advice on getting insurance, but I can share my experience with you that it's prohibitively expensive to get private health insurance that will cover maternity. DH and I crunched the numbers (at least in our area), and the cost of having a baby vaginally with no complications and no NICU stay (about 8 grand) is only slightly more than the difference we'd have to pay monthly in insurance in order to get maternity covered. So it only makes sense to do financially if you're planning to be pregnant all the time.
So we're paying for everything entirely out of pocket. If you have to go this route, don't panic. You can get on a payment plan with your OB ahead of time for visits, and you can pay off your hospital bill slowly, and it's manageable. Expensive, but manageable.
EDIT: I should mention that you should for sure get SOME insurance though, maternity covered or not. We got several discounts just for being insured even when the service wasn't covered.
This sounds like a nightmare. I obviously have zero experience or knowledge of how insurance works in the States but can your husband request an extension on his health benefits under some kind of compassion basis?
This. I would try for an induction. My dr. had me scheduled for an induction a week prior to my due date because I was MISERABLE! I know this is flammable, but to each its own.
Ugh, we JUST went through this and it was incredibly frustrating and scary and totally unexpected ((hugs)). MH lost his job just before Christmas when I was 36 weeks pregnant.
The first thing I did was apply for Medicaid. I honestly never thought we would be in a position to need a social program, but I am SO glad we had this option since unfortunately there just aren't a lot of options in a situation like this for affordable healthcare coverage. MH is collecting unemployment, but the income (which is the max for our dependency class) is low enough that we still qualify for Medicaid (but no other programs) and by "we" I mean the kids and I. I don't know about your specific state, but in Ohio you have to be under 200% of the federal poverty line to qualify for Medicaid as a pregnant woman or child. Now, other adults have to be under 90% of the poverty line and MH's UC benefits are above that so he never qualified for the insurance and I will be kicked off once I reach 8 weeks postpartum, but I'm so thankful the rest of my appointments were paid for and the birth.
Now, COBRA was an option for us (and should be for you as well). It's quite expensive - for us it was nearly $1000/month for the premium, plus we have a high deductible policy. Honestly, paying for those premiums for a handful of months plus what we would have had to pay OOP for DD's birth would have seriously compromised our savings and we're going to need that money because who knows how long MH will be out of work. Hopefully not much longer, but you just never know what's around the corner.
Now, we still have the option to pay for our old policy under COBRA, but the deadline is coming up soon (FYI, it takes quite a while for the COBRA paperwork to come in and then you have a certain amount of time to opt in and the coverage will be backdated to when your coverage ended). We need to make a decision because MH and I will both be lacking coverage and per COBRA we're unable to add DD to the policy so now we need to look into whether it will be more cost effective to go with COBRA or to pay for a private policy. MH and I hardly ever go to the doctor (although, you never know) so hopefully we wouldn't end up paying for the high premiums + high deductible like we would have had we been under that policy for DD's birth.
I'm not sure how things will play out. It's really frustrating that not only did we lose our only income, but because our health benefits went with it it's just a whole host of worries. We're both really hoping he just gets a job offer soon. He's been interviewing and interviewing and has actually only been turned down for one position, but I guess companies just don't have the same sense of urgency we do because it's just taking forever to go through the whole process!
GL! I hope your H is back to work soon and that you can get your healthcare coverage sorted out in the meantime.
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If I were you, I would definitely ask about being induced before your insurance ends. It's only a couple of days, and if baby stays breech, you might need a c-section anyway.
That being said, I was in your situation last year. I see you are in MI and so am I. The economy here is terrible. DH was "downsized" from his management job (after 11 years) just a few months before I was due. I was in college full-time and due to give birth three weeks after graduation. He got severance pay for a few months and then unemployment after that, but our insurance was cancelled after 30 days. We applied for Medicaid and were approved. Like you, I never thought I would be in that position and I was completely humiliated, but we did not have the money to pay out of pocket. The birth was covered 100%. It goes by income and the number of people in your family, and your kids would probably be covered too. You should be able to find most of the information you need here- https://michigan.gov/dhs/0,4562,7-124-5453_5530_61807---,00.html
If I can answer any questions, I would be happy to.
ETA: I also meant to say that I am really sorry you guys are in this situation. I know how stressful it is.
I hope it works out for you! I remember that feeling of panic so clearly. We planned our pregnancy way ahead of time so that the timing would work with school and looking for a job (and having some time at home with new baby), and we planned our health coverage accordingly. We changed our policy to higher monthly premiums so that the birth would be completely covered... And then the bottom dropped out, and we had no idea what to do. As much as you don't want to be in that position, it's really a blessing that those programs exist. As a family of 5, you might be surprised and find that you qualify. Your DH probably won't get coverage, and yours will end 6-8 weeks postpartum, but your little ones will be covered until things turn around.
For what it's worth, when my newest DS was 6 months old, I got an awesome job with great benefits. We decided DH would stay home with the boys for awhile, which saves on the cost of daycare, and it is working out better than I could have hoped. Praying things go as well for your family.
Feel free to PM me anytime.
Sorry, that really stinks. I`ve never heard of police layoffs, it simply doesn`t happen hear. Would they recall him if they got money back in the budget. Does he want to stay in law enforcement. Totally in left field and probably not what you want, but our local department is on a huge recruitment drive and looking to hire 60 people this year and 60 next. They`re currently doing out of country recruitment drives. Like I said, no layoffs. But if not, good luck, hope something comes up for you.
(and sorry for the crappy punctuation, my keyboard hates me right now)
I haven't received anything from you. I sent one to you, so if it works, you can just reply.