Insurance

lisaren · April 2014

Just curious how many have private insurance, pregnancy Medicaid or are self pay.

lisaren · April 2014

I'm curious about the special snowflakes?? Hahaha

mander82 · April 2014

I chose private insurance...assuming that's where I would go since I have insurance through my work place. Pretty sure I will still be forking out around $2000 once it's all said and done with though. Can't wait for that bill to show up while I am trying to Christmas shop.

moroccojade · April 2014

I had to pick the snowflake.

I'm Canadian and covered 100% by provincial health care.

lisaren · April 2014

Ahhhh shit I forgot about our northern girls. Sorry!!! I assume everyone is my next door neighbor.

dbgwife · April 2014

Military!

Jatpa003 · April 2014

Another special snowflake from Canada. Healthcare paid. But extra through DH's work for a hopefully private room (depends on availability) FX.

carcrashheart · April 2014

My surgery already chewed up my deductible so this should cost us about 10% of the bill. I also have an Aflac hospitalization plan that I will utilize to get about 1k from, if not more. For DS i was covered 100% except for the $250 hospital copay and circumcision. We paid $375 but got $2500 back so we actually profited. I used to envy Canadian care but after making a few Canadian friends I no longer envy it, and neither do they.

I'll stick with my expensive private insurance.

lovelongdog06 · April 2014

Special snowflake here, because I do have private insurance, but I am prepaying cash for my midwife ($3,400 which includes all prenatal visits, basic labs, and the birth... and I live in Arizona, in case anyone's curious). With some degree of luck, my midwife will still be able to bill my insurance after the birth and I'll possibly get some money back. It will be a pleasant surprise if it happens that way, but I'm mentally preparing to never see any of this money again.

ShelleyElla22 · April 2014

I have private insurance and don't have to pay a single thing. EVER!! One of the perks of being a teacher

@lovelongdog06‌ I had my first son in Scottsdale and my bill was $18,000 for just the birth (before my insurance kicked in) so $3400 seems like a steal in comparison!

MrsAdventure · April 2014

Where's the option for 'I got skewed'? My union, in there infinite wisdom, terminated my insurance for the second time, while still deducting insurance costs from my pay... 'Cause they suck. I, of course, am out for blood from them now as I had to pay out of pocket for my prescription (over $100).

When I first called the union to say wtf, they suggested I wait a few days to pick up my prescription while the reactivated my insurance. Imagine the stunned silence from their end of the phone when I said sure, if they'll empty my puke bucket for me, I'd be glad to wait. Zofran was a must.

suzyrenee · April 2014

Private insurance. Our out of pocket is $3000 I think.

Tinnerina · April 2014

Another special snowflake here, I'm Icelandic and covered 100% by provincial health care.

AnnieRoo13 · April 2014

I'm a special Canadian snowflake too. In reality that category was almost named for us already so don't feel bad @lisaren‌ (snowflakes...Canada).

AnnieRoo13 · April 2014

carcrashheart said:
My surgery already chewed up my deductible so this should cost us about 10% of the bill. I also have an Aflac hospitalization plan that I will utilize to get about 1k from, if not more. For DS i was covered 100% except for the $250 hospital copay and circumcision. We paid $375 but got $2500 back so we actually profited. I used to envy Canadian care but after making a few Canadian friends I no longer envy it, and neither do they. I'll stick with my expensive private insurance.

I don't want to start anything @carcrashheart‌ but I'm curious as to why you say that about Canadian healthcare? I know this is a touchy subject but I'm really just intrigued.

Becwalker27 · April 2014

Australian with private health cover. Could go public for free, but no choice of obstetrician or private room. But going as a private patient to a public hospital as our private hospitals don't have NICU facilities and so I'd be transferred to a public hospital anyway if there were problems. Will be out of pocket $3000-6000 depending on whether I get an epidural / they need a surgical assistant. Fortunately ante-natal appointments and ultrasounds are bulk billed through our public healthcare system.

lisaren · April 2014

I need to check into that Aflac!

carcrashheart · April 2014

lisaren said:
I need to check into that Aflac!

You can't, sorry. The policy doesn't exist anymore and even if it did you can't get it if you are already pregnant. We picked it up in February 2011 while ttc. When I went to cancel after I gave birth they told me they got rid of the plan so if I cancelled it I couldn't get t back. So we kept it and did the math on how long it would no longer be worth paying in to.

AmyC925 · April 2014

Private through work. I have a $250 access point, then my work pays to my OOP max..so I only have to pay $250 + copays. I also got an added STD policy from AFLAC that will put me close to full pay.

carcrashheart · April 2014

AnnieRoo13 said:

carcrashheart said:
My surgery already chewed up my deductible so this should cost us about 10% of the bill. I also have an Aflac hospitalization plan that I will utilize to get about 1k from, if not more. For DS i was covered 100% except for the $250 hospital copay and circumcision. We paid $375 but got $2500 back so we actually profited. I used to envy Canadian care but after making a few Canadian friends I no longer envy it, and neither do they. I'll stick with my expensive private insurance.
I don't want to start anything @carcrashheart‌ but I'm curious as to why you say that about Canadian healthcare? I know this is a touchy subject but I'm really just intrigued.

Oh, I think their biggest complaint is how long they have to wait to see doctors. Not necessarily ob's once pregnant but otherwise they all seem to have to wait far more than 6-8 weeks for an appointment. One hospital wouldn't allow her DH to stay in her room overnight once she had the baby. Issues with finding doctors less than 1-3 hours away. And I know some of this is due to where they live. Some of them don't mind the provincial insurance but others wished they lived in the states. Either way, I'm good with what we've got.

Allisonville · April 2014

lovelongdog06 said:
Special snowflake here, because I do have private insurance, but I am prepaying cash for my midwife ($3,400 which includes all prenatal visits, basic labs, and the birth... and I live in Arizona, in case anyone's curious). With some degree of luck, my midwife will still be able to bill my insurance after the birth and I'll possibly get some money back. It will be a pleasant surprise if it happens that way, but I'm mentally preparing to never see any of this money again.

This may be a totally stupid question - but why? Since you have insurance, why wouldn't you use it? Hopefully everything works out and the insurance company will pay at the end, but I'm generally curious why you'd prepay not knowing.

SuperFreakedFirstTimer · April 2014

Private Ins, but it's basic, pointless, and doesn't pay for a thing. It's a real great plan

xiaopeapod · April 2014

Insurance through work. Won't have to pay anything that's considered standard or medically necessary. Got double coverage from DH as well, so no copay either.

lisaren · April 2014

Private insurance = insurance through work or a private plan you pay fully.

nonoemily · April 2014

We have private insurance and during my pregnancy the remainder of my bill is covered by DHs (and DS's and lo#2s) NA tribe.

TXSparky · April 2014

I'm a SS. I have private insurance but they are being a total pain about approving a home birth. My OOP cost without insurance for prenatal, birth and postnatal care is only $2250. My deductible is $2000. So I'm really not gaining much except meeting my deductible by going through insurance. If they keep fighting, I will probably just self pay.

lisaren · April 2014

I'm self pay because it's cheaper in the long run. My MW office offers a self pay discount of 20% so I'll take it. I pay all my Medical bills oop and medicines, and my whole ass issue is becoming quite costly!

missnacholover · April 2014

I have awesome insurance. It'll be free since I'll have definitely met my (low) out of pocket max.

Although, the baby is going on DH's insurance so I'm sure we'll have to pay something for him/her, but he has great insurance as well.

I stay separate from DH because of all of my diabetes expenses - keeps the deductible and OOP max down so I get more stuff covered at lower prices.

rahkitt · April 2014

At the very last minute (March 30th) I looked into plans through my state's insurance exchange and realized that by paying $10 more a month I could drop my deductible from $3500 individual down to $750! (I looked after being shocked by a $2000 ER bill from my daughter's visit there when they thought she had appendicitis). I realized then how bad our insurance was considering we were paying over $650 a month! So despite the fact that we're still paying a fortune for our insurance, at least it's going to cover something this time.

CountryMama1114 · April 2014

I ended up having a 25 dollar copay for my first OB appointment and nothing since.... No hospital copay for when I deliver, either. I have a 25 dollar OOP max for everyone on the insurance, but preventatives and all shots are covered. So the only bill I may get is a 25 dollar copay if this is a boy and we get him circumcised.

moroccojade · April 2014

AnnieRoo13 said:

My surgery already chewed up my deductible so this should cost us about 10% of the bill. I also have an Aflac hospitalization plan that I will utilize to get about 1k from, if not more. For DS i was covered 100% except for the $250 hospital copay and circumcision. We paid $375 but got $2500 back so we actually profited. I used to envy Canadian care but after making a few Canadian friends I no longer envy it, and neither do they. I'll stick with my expensive private insurance.
I don't want to start anything @carcrashheart‌ but I'm curious as to why you say that about Canadian healthcare? I know this is a touchy subject but I'm really just intrigued.

Canadians have NOTHING to complain about.

In most provinces we can choose a family doctor, OB or midwife. Hospital or home birth. All prenatal visits, scans and blood tests cost $0. (Well, the NIPT is new and not covered... but no one could say that it is NECESSARY.)

There are no charges in the hospital. (although you can be offered some perks for a price if you want -- preferred rooms, tv, parking, photos...   but usually they are for ward fundraisers to make nice improvements.)

You get post natal visits AT HOME. Your midwife or a public health nurse will be over a few times the first two weeks to check on you and your baby.

So yeah. Whomever is complaining about that is a real whiner! No, we don't get weekly US for routine, low risk pregnancies. But, really, those just aren't necessary. Peace of mind is nice, but if there is no reason to have them? Don't stress the system. Save those US appointments for the poor woman with a SCH and massive bleeding... KWIM?

Maternity care aside... there can be long waits at ERs. But I think people need to start learning what is an emergency. There are walk in clinics everywhere -- those will treat your bronchitis or your UTI. No ER visit necessary.   (FWIW, I have never waited more than 45 minutes at a walk in. And the ER? Never more than 5 minutes.)

Surgical wait lists can be a bit of a pain, too. A friend had to wait four months for a knee replacement. Although - he was still walking, working and exercising fine. BUT he was pissed he couldn't hit the slopes skiing right away that year. No one felt sorry for him for that! lol. My dad, on the other hand, got lucky -- he was in for both his knees in just a few weeks. It took 3 months for me to get my breast reduction... but well, the Ds didn't kill me for those 12 weeks. And I walked out with happy Bs just in time for Christmas and my beach vacation to Mexico.

All, again, for $0.   And these were elective surgeries. Anything urgent or life threatening gets priority.

Next time you hear a Canadian complaining... Roll. Your. Eyes.   (Unless they are in a super small remote town, I guess.... there aren't as many services there... but I am guessing that is the same in ANY country.)

Sure you will hear one off horror stories of long wait times or poor care, but again -- you will hear those one offs from any country around the world. They aren't the norm here.

carcrashheart · April 2014

Allisonville said:

lovelongdog06 said:
Special snowflake here, because I do have private insurance, but I am prepaying cash for my midwife ($3,400 which includes all prenatal visits, basic labs, and the birth... and I live in Arizona, in case anyone's curious). With some degree of luck, my midwife will still be able to bill my insurance after the birth and I'll possibly get some money back. It will be a pleasant surprise if it happens that way, but I'm mentally preparing to never see any of this money again.
This may be a totally stupid question - but why? Since you have insurance, why wouldn't you use it? Hopefully everything works out and the insurance company will pay at the end, but I'm generally curious why you'd prepay not knowing.

Some offices make their patients pay upfront. I guess it's to make sure they get their money instead of being stiffed and having to track it down afterwards. But they don't say that-they give whatever other reasons. It seems really odd to me. My last dr didn't do this and as far as I can tell my current dr doesn't either. I would rather make sure the billing was done correctly before paying rather than after and trying to get my money back. My paranoia would make me think the office would try to bill for anything possible in order to get as much as they can.

KatzKiss · April 2014

Random question for the Canadians. Do you have to share hospital rooms. I learned during my last delivery that the US is in the minority for having private delivery/recovery rooms as a standard.

jaminjeff · April 2014

I chose private insurance since I work for the government and my insurance is through them. I've already met my deductible and out of pocket for the year between the IF stuff they somehow cover (some testing and b/w here and there) and my weekly OB appointments I've had so far.

KatzKiss · April 2014

lissydee said:

KatzKiss said:

Random question for the Canadians. Do you have to share hospital rooms. I learned during my last delivery that the US is in the minority for having private delivery/recovery rooms as a standard.

its not necessarily standard here in the US. I know plenty of women who have had to share hospital rooms post partum. Granted this was mostly in metropolitan areas/hospitals...

I cant even imagine.

Me either. Between your visitors, their visitors and nurses in and out, when could you get any rest!

moroccojade · April 2014

KatzKiss said:

Random question for the Canadians. Do you have to share hospital rooms. I learned during my last delivery that the US is in the minority for having private delivery/recovery rooms as a standard.

Supposedly there are some shared rooms in a few hospitals! (L&D is private, but recovery can be shared.) The hospital I delivered at in 2007 had all private rooms... but the hospital for this time around? Does supposedly have 3 or 4 shared rooms. My midwife said not to worry... They RARELY get used. And she has delivered more babies there than she can count.

So I am not going to worry.

jaminjeff · April 2014

lissydee said:

KatzKiss said:

lissydee said:

KatzKiss said:

Random question for the Canadians. Do you have to share hospital rooms. I learned during my last delivery that the US is in the minority for having private delivery/recovery rooms as a standard.

its not necessarily standard here in the US. I know plenty of women who have had to share hospital rooms post partum. Granted this was mostly in metropolitan areas/hospitals...

I cant even imagine.

Me either. Between your visitors, their visitors and nurses in and out, when could you get any rest!

I'd sign myself and baby out AMA. No way in hell would I share a room.

I chose my hospital because it is one of the best in the area and it only has two "sharing rooms". One on each floor, at the front of the hall, just until they can get you into another room IF there is a wait.

I had my son on 11/11/11 (Friday) (emergency) in the midst of many women coming in for inductions to get that date, and a full moon and Valentine's Day babies.

12 babies were born on 11/10/11, 17 were born on 11/11/11 and 10 were born on 11/12/11.

By the time I got to a room on 11/12/11 (Saturday) at 1 a.m. the only room available was the big 'shared' room for two patients, but we didn't have one. They told me in the morning that I'd get my own private room. I said good because I had a c/s and spouses can't stay if you share a room and I wasn't calling them every time I needed help up to do something. The next morning came and they kept coming in and telling me it wouldn't be much longer, a few were leaving. But then more babies were being born and they kept bringing more in, they told me it was easier to keep me in this room, hoping not to have to share with anyone, and let the incoming moms have the other rooms so they didn't have to clean this room after I left. That night they told my husband he couldn't stay, that I'd be getting a roommate by the end of the evening. He stayed anyways and said he'd drive home in the middle of the night if he had to.

Sunday morning they brought someone in and I was devastated. They told me it was out of their hands and I took the baby for a walk around the floor, and completely lost it, sobbing crying, they got her out and once again told me I could have that room to myself and they didn't want to move me out because I was at the back end of the room and it was easier to move her out. But they promised they wouldn't put anyone else in there during my stay.

They made my husband leave the room when the other patient had to use the restroom but didn't extend that courtesy to me.

On Monday the doctor said I could go home or stay one more day. I asked to stay one more day. My incision was still very painful and I was having a hard time getting up and moving around. Within three hours they were wheeling someone else in.

I walked out and told them to bring my OB back in to release me and have the pedi release my son or I was walking out with him, once again a sobbing mess.

They've since changed the policy to those shared rooms and made them private rooms also, there are no shared rooms at all. I'm still upset over this and can't decide if I want to deliver there again. L&D was excellent, everyone rocked. But the maternity ward just left a bad taste in my mouth.

RedBirdFly · April 2014

I'm paying out of pocket for my homebirth midwife ($2500) but I have Tricare, and she will bill post birth but we don't expect them to cover anything. Voted SS

mrsodonnell12 · April 2014

RedBirdFly said:
I'm paying out of pocket for my homebirth midwife ($2500) but I have Tricare, and she will bill post birth but we don't expect them to cover anything. Voted SS

You might be pleasantly suprised. They told me home birth is not covered through blue Cross blue shield but they paid 100%!! I hope the same happens this time!

KatzKiss · April 2014

@jaminjeff‌ I'm sorry you had to go through that. What a nightmare!

MalachiteDrake · April 2014

I'm on Medicare w/my disability, and my husband doesn't have insurance right now. It'll be cheaper to pay the penalty under the ACA and wait for him to have access to the salaried manager insurances here in a month or so, but even then I'll like stay under Medicare and the baby will be covered by Medicaid for a while.

Want a personalized experience?

Insurance

Insurance 212 votes

Re: Insurance

Choose Another Board

Search Boards