Pregnant & No Health Insurance

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FullOfThought

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My husband and I are not trying to become pregnant, but because of stress my charting may have been wrong this month and I may be pregnant. We do not have health insurance, because of my pre existing conditions we were having a hard time being accepted by a company.

So what happens in America when a couple don’t have health insurance? Are a couple doomed to loads of debt because of this?

I know everything will work out okay, but I am worried.

Thank you
 
My daughter, age 27, had two cardiac ablations at age 25. When she graduated from law school in May and lost her health insurance, she was denied coverage. After the 3rd denial, one of the company’s wrote that she should apply to the California Pre-Exsisting Insurance Plan that is now mandated by the Affordable Health Care Act. It is funded by tobacco taxes partially. She pays $200 a month with only a $2500 deductible. 23 days after she became insured, she had her appendix out!! What a blessing!!! I think all states must have one of these plans. Google your states plan! Good luck!!👍
 
FullOfThought said:
My husband and I are not trying to become pregnant, but because of stress my charting may have been wrong this month and I may be pregnant. We do not have health insurance, because of my pre existing conditions we were having a hard time being accepted by a company.

So what happens in America when a couple don’t have health insurance? Are a couple doomed to loads of debt because of this?

I know everything will work out okay, but I am worried.

Thank you
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Here in the US, if you are pregnant and do not have health insurance, you are eligible for “pregnancy-only Medicaid”. Some states have specific names for that plan, but basically it’s pregnancy and birth coverage for pregnant women without health insurance.

In many areas, you’ll find that many Certified Nurse-Midwives (that attend births in both birth centers and hospitals) are often Medicaid providers, along with OB/GYN residents (3rd and 4th year) that are doing their residencies at large, teaching hospitals. Don’t worry about large amounts of debt. If you opt to get the pregnancy-only Medicaid, you will have minimal bills, but you need to see a provider within that network. For some women, what is available is not what they want, so they do go ahead and pay out-of-pocket. I would start looking to see what your state provides and who the providers are (physicians, midwives, hospitals, etc).
 
Pro-Life centers in your area may have local information (like the state programs mentioned above) that may help you!
 
Thank you, lots of helpful information.

It really is terrible how finances can prevent excitement. You have made me feel better already, thank you!
 
kozlosap said:
My daughter, age 27, had two cardiac ablations at age 25. When she graduated from law school in May and lost her health insurance, she was denied coverage. After the 3rd denial, one of the company’s wrote that she should apply to the California Pre-Exsisting Insurance Plan that is now mandated by the Affordable Health Care Act. It is funded by tobacco taxes partially. She pays $200 a month with only a $2500 deductible. 23 days after she became insured, she had her appendix out!! What a blessing!!! I think all states must have one of these plans. Google your states plan! Good luck!!👍
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New York has such a pre-existing plan too. The cost is also somewhere around $200 per month.
 
Leegal said:
New York has such a pre-existing plan too. The cost is also somewhere around $200 per month.
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:confused: So how come the healthy folk have to pay hundreds more and have a much higher deductible on top? Are they trying to make us envious or something? :hypno:
 
I was denied health insurance from my husband’s plan because of postpartum depression. Consequently though, I was able to go with my state’s insurance plan for those who are denied coverage. I echo that you can find out from either a Life Care Center or the state’s department of human services.
 
You should look into Christian health sharing plans, such as Medishare or Samaritan’s Purse. My friend has health insurance, but uses Samaritan’s Purse as a sort of secondary insurance. She had her baby at a birthing center. Her insurance only covered the birth partially (most insurance plans aren’t too keen on out-of-hospital births), so Samaritan’s Purse covered the rest.

If I didn’t have insurance, I would go with a Christian health sharing plan.
 
anp1215 said:
You should look into Christian health sharing plans, such as Medishare or Samaritan’s Purse. My friend has health insurance, but uses Samaritan’s Purse as a sort of secondary insurance. She had her baby at a birthing center. Her insurance only covered the birth partially (most insurance plans aren’t too keen on out-of-hospital births), so Samaritan’s Purse covered the rest.

If I didn’t have insurance, I would go with a Christian health sharing plan.
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Indeed. One thing that’s promising about it is that if the individual mandate survives the Supreme Court, Medi-Share users are apparently exempt from the requirement.

I don’t see anything about the Samaritan’s Purse program on their main site (although there do seem to be many programs worthy of support). Is it a subdomain? EDIT: Maybe you meant Samaritan Ministries?
 
SonCatcher said:
Indeed. One thing that’s promising about it is that if the individual mandate survives the Supreme Court, Medi-Share users are apparently exempt from the requirement.

I don’t see anything about the Samaritan’s Purse program on their main site (although there do seem to be many programs worthy of support). Is it a subdomain? EDIT: Maybe you meant Samaritan Ministries?
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Oops. Yes I did. I always get Samaritan’s Purse (an evangelical non-profit charity) and Samaritan Ministries (the Christian health sharing group) confused because of their similar names.

Sorry about that, Samaritan Ministries is the organization I was referring the OP to. (But Samaritan’s Purse is a great charity to support!)
 
SonCatcher said:
:confused: So how come the healthy folk have to pay hundreds more and have a much higher deductible on top? Are they trying to make us envious or something? :hypno:
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If you don’t have a Pre existing condition, most people buy into the large group plans and their costs are roughly the same. Remember, the $200 a month and $2500 a year deductible is for a single 27 year old female. The fees slide up as you age. My single monthly fee for myself is about $350. I’m almost 59. No deduct able since I’m in an HMO.
 
I know that Dave Ramsey talks about this a lot on his show – about how you can “shop” for maternity care. He says to shop the hospitals, tell them you’re going to be paying cash and that you can have a normal birth for around $3,000 – it’s good PR for the hospital as that’s really the only time people want to actually go to a hospital. Now, I don’t have any idea what the doctor will cost; but if your area has a hospital that will allow a midwife to attend your birth, that would be a lot cheaper I would think.

I don’t know what works best for your situation, but I just wanted to throw that out.
 
Nanny_PK said:
I know that Dave Ramsey talks about this a lot on his show – about how you can “shop” for maternity care. He says to shop the hospitals, tell them you’re going to be paying cash and that you can have a normal birth for around $3,000 – it’s good PR for the hospital as that’s really the only time people want to actually go to a hospital. Now, I don’t have any idea what the doctor will cost; but if your area has a hospital that will allow a midwife to attend your birth, that would be a lot cheaper I would think.

I don’t know what works best for your situation, but I just wanted to throw that out.
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If you ran into complications, however, that agreed upon amount of $3000 or whatever for a normal, uncomplicated birth could rise exponentially. One of our children cost about 40K due to some complications and a csection. My youngest was in excess of $400,000, including a NICU stay. I’d be very leary of being without health insurance.
 
etmom said:
If you ran into complications, however, that agreed upon amount of $3000 or whatever for a normal, uncomplicated birth could rise exponentially. One of our children cost about 40K due to some complications and a csection. My youngest was in excess of $400,000, including a NICU stay. I’d be very leary of being without health insurance.
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I’m totally with you, but the OP doesn’t have any insurance – at least that’s my understanding. I was just offering up an alternative to her thinking it would always cost the amount except in case of an emergency.
 
Nanny_PK said:
I’m totally with you, but the OP doesn’t have any insurance – at least that’s my understanding. I was just offering up an alternative to her thinking it would always cost the amount except in case of an emergency.
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👍👍
 
Some states have the WIC program (for Women, Infants, and Children). go to your state’s government website and see if that could be an option for you.
 
Yes, you can go to the hospital (and perhaps make separate agreements w/ the doctors, anesthesiologists, etc.) and inquire about plans. The hospital I work at has a pre-pay plan–$1200 in advance, and the balance within 30 days of birth. The charge is $1500 for a vaginal delivery, $2000 for a c-sec. This includes prenatal testing if it’s done at the hospital’s lab, the baby’s charges (as long as the baby is healthy enough to be discharged when mom is discharged), so it’s definitely worth checking into.
 
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