Health Insurance

Phoebe Roberts, EA wrote:

You don't happen to have any stats on likelihood of intrapartum and
postpartum complications in subsequent pregnancies vs. initial
pregnancies, do you? I know first babies are much more likely to
transport, but I don't know what the odds are for complications that
would cause a hospital stay after a homebirth, for instance.

I know you'd be at a lesser risk for complications
overall (because having a successful vaginal birth previously
rules out some possible complications, but you haven't had
so many babies that you're in the running for the sorts of
complications that come with having had lots of babies).
I don't know the actual numbers. If I run across something,
I'll post it (don't have time to look right now).

Best wishes,
Ericka

We had ours at my mom's, she brought her hot tub to body temp, it
helped that she had birthed seven of her own and had been a nurse
before that. We read all we could about home birthing at the library
beforehand, and figured we could always call the paramedics in an
emergency, though we never had to. Sure, get insurance if you can, but
if you can't, do what women have been doing from the beginning of
time, and a majority of the world's women do at the present day-have
those kids yourself, at home. When we filed at the county for our
first birth certificate, we found out from the clerk that it wasn't
all that uncommon. You need medical attention if there are serious
complications, but you don't need a doctor to catch the baby.-Jitney

"jitney" wrote in message
m...
We had ours at my mom's, she brought her hot tub to body temp, it
helped that she had birthed seven of her own and had been a nurse
before that. We read all we could about home birthing at the library
beforehand, and figured we could always call the paramedics in an
emergency, though we never had to. Sure, get insurance if you can, but
if you can't, do what women have been doing from the beginning of
time, and a majority of the world's women do at the present day-have
those kids yourself, at home. When we filed at the county for our
first birth certificate, we found out from the clerk that it wasn't
all that uncommon. You need medical attention if there are serious
complications, but you don't need a doctor to catch the baby.-Jitney

Two other options: a midwife practice, with a birth in a birthing center or
at home (much less expensive-I believe the one here charges about $2000 for
pre-natal care, post-natal care, and a midwife-assisted home birth) or a
pre-paid plan-One of the hospitals here has a package deal where you can pay
your pre-natal care, all required tests, 1 u/s, an OB assisted delivery, and
2 days after-care for, I believe around $5000. This is done on a monthly
basis, over something like 24 months. (I don't know what they do if you
default-impound the baby??).

Neither will help in the slightest if it turns out you or the baby need
additional care, but in a vast majority of pregnancies, you won't.

jitney wrote:

Sure, get insurance if you can, but
if you can't, do what women have been doing from the beginning of
time, and a majority of the world's women do at the present day-have
those kids yourself, at home.

I don't need insurance to cover a normal, uncomplicated birth, because
the plan is to have a homebirth (which is what we did for #1). It's the
case where something goes wrong that I worry about, and the difference
between being stuck with a $10,000 hospital bill and a $50,000 hospital
bill, when $20,000 in premiums would have saved $40,000 in expense.

OTOH, I would *never* recommend that someone choose a homebirth
(particularly UC) purely for financial reasons. I can't imagine being
in labor, having a vague feeling that something was going wrong, and
trying to balance the cost of going to the hospital against the risk of
staying home.

Phoebe

"Phoebe & Allyson" wrote in message

Has anyone been in the situation where they had insurance with no
maternity coverage, got pregnant, and had complications? Did you have
a
good experience? Any other things I should consider?
snip

I don't have any experience with what you are asking about, but we have
a similar situation. Earlier this year, we opted to drop DH's employer's
insurance plan and buy our own insurance policy. We opted for a plan
with no maternity coverage, since to have maternity coverage (that was
only up to $2500) was $56 per month extra and that would not cover a
homebirth which is what we plan for #2. The policy has a statement just
like yours that implies that pregnancy and birth related complications
are covered (c-sections are specifically mentioned as covered, which was
my main worry), but routine prenatal and delivery care are not. I
probably should have asked if an NICU stay for the baby would be
covered, since that can be horribly pricey, so you might want to ask
about that.

This option made tons of financial sense for us because dropping the
employer plan gave DH an automatic $4 per hour raise (that is about
$8000 a year!) and also took our monthly insurance premium from $320 per
month to $120 per month. Both of those changes, mean the ability to
create a larger emergency cushion to back up our minimal insurance
coverage.

--
Em
mama to L-baby, 8 months old!

Em wrote:
I probably should have asked if an NICU
stay for the baby would be covered, since that can be horribly
pricey, so you might want to ask about that.

All of the baby's care is covered, because the baby is covered from the
moment of birth. (That's almost certainly true of your policy as well.) If
the baby were to get pregnant, that would be a whole 'nother story.

Phoebe
--
yahoo address is unread; substitute mailbolt

"Phoebe & Allyson" wrote in message
Em wrote:
I probably should have asked if an NICU
stay for the baby would be covered, since that can be horribly
pricey, so you might want to ask about that.

All of the baby's care is covered, because the baby is covered from
the
moment of birth. (That's almost certainly true of your policy as
well.) If
the baby were to get pregnant, that would be a whole 'nother story.

One of my main concerns with this policy was making *sure* that the baby
would be automatically covered from the get go. (I was fairly sure it
wasn't "allowed" for them to say that a newborn with a health problem
couldn't be added to my policy, but I wanted to make absolute sure.)
However, as I was reading this thread, I started to think that maybe
they could wiggle out of NICU care somehow by saying that the baby was
only there because of my homebirth or something like that. Doesn't make
any sense when I write it out now though.

--
Em
mama to L-baby, 8 months old!

Anyway, I second talking to the OB's billing office-they know quite a bit
about which insurance companies are reasonable and which aren't, which are
willing to pay for stays longer than the minimum if needed, will pay for
extra pre-natal visits, etc.

Actually, I would contact the insurance companies themselves, and
request explanations of benefits (including answers to specific
questions) in plain English, in writing. DH and I found ourselves in
a situation where the clinic/hospital we went to for prenatal care
assured us before I even got pregnant that we would be covered, only
to find out after some complications early on that the insurance
company did not cover prenatal care, a normal birth, or a healthy baby
at all (granted, they have assured us if complications occur, they
will cover that). Not good news for two students who make less than
$10K a year put together.

Get something from the insurance companies in writing -- then, if they
claim different coverage later, you've got them on the hook. Good
luck.

-Carlye
EDD 9/26/04