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Health Insurance Options for Pregnancy

By Marilyn Katz

Republish: EasyPublish™
Published: 03Apr2010
Word count: 513
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One big concern about health insurance is with pregnant women, and also for couples that would like to plan to have a baby. All of the doctor visits, tests, and hospital care to have a healthy baby can cost thousands of dollars. If more care is needed, those costs can multiply. How can people afford to have a baby without help?

The first thing that most people think of is that a good major medical insurance plan will take care of most costs. Most group plans, provided by employers, do cover maternity. With good group health insurance, the couple should have low out of pocket costs so they can save their money for the expense of their new baby after he or she is born.

But millions of Americans lack group health. Self employed people, contract workers, unemployed people, and people who work for an employer who does not offer group health are some obvious examples of people without group health.

Many of these people do buy individual health insurance on their own. This is fine for normal medical coverage, but it may not cover maternity. While major medical should cover any complications of pregnancy, it may not cover normal doctor visits, tests, and the delivery.

You may find a maternity option (rider) that can be added to some private policies. This must be selected before a woman is pregnant, and it does have an extra cost. This will not eliminate out of pocket costs though. The deductible is usually fairly high too, but at least, it will protect the family against very high costs.

For people with some savings, but without maternity insurance, a pre-paid plan may help. Some doctors or hospitals offer these plans so the costs of maternity health care can be planned for.

For families with a low or moderate income, the CHIPS program covers pregnant women. CHIPs is the federal health insurance program for children from lower income families, and it has been expanded to cover women who are pregnant. You can search online for the program in your state.

For families who are very poor, with little income or assets, Medicaid may also provide help. Medicaid is the federal health program for very poor people who do not have many assets.

You could also look for low cost clinics or county health systems in your area. Some private charities provide financial aid for people with different health issues too.

The Partnership for Prescription Assistance (PPARX.org) has a lot of handy resources to find local help in your own city or town. It may take some work to find the right solution, but help is out there.

Some people may feel too proud to seek outside help. But, in my opinion, at this time, if somebody in your family is pregnant, the important thing is to make sure she has great health care. The woman's health, and the baby's health, are the important things to consider. That will help everybody get back on track in the future, and it will do more good in the long run.

Are you looking for good health insurance that will be right for your family? We have helped many people buy good insurance with our safe, fast, and free quote forms.

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