Back up care and insurance?

[beebalmmama]

I am just getting started in planning my first homebirth. My first was a natural hospital birth with a CNM.

So after verifying with my insurance that I have an out of pocket max that equals to the midwife fee, my final reserve about a homebirth is gone. But finances are still an issue and so I'm trying to figure out all of the fees and how best to get my insurance to cover ultrasounds and lab work. Unfortunately they absolutely do not cover midwives or homebirth.

I was considering making an appointment with an OB office and see their CNM. My thinking was that I could do the ultrasounds with them and have the CNM as backup. I want to make sure I have the tests covered by insurance, but also maybe have a backup caregiver in case any problems arise during the pg. If I were to have an emergency transfer at birth, can you ever request a doctor or is it standard to have whoever is on call?

[XanaduMama]

My insurance didn't cover my homebirth or MW either. My MW just referred me to an ultrasound clinic for the 20wk check, and could have sent me to get lab work too, if I'd wanted any. The insurance paid for the ultrasound no questions asked.

At an emergency transfer, you'd likely end up with whomever was on call. With my first, I went with an OB practice, which meant that I could have ended up with any of 8 doctors (plus the OTHER OB practice with whom they shared on-call duties)...so no difference there, IMO.

[angelapittman]

This was my experience in trying to get my homebirth covered...

I wrote an appeal letter which was abruptly denied because they claim that homebirth simply isn't covered. They said it says it in THEIR manual but cannot locate it in mine (which in itself is a crock). Anyway, They are now paying for most of it after lots of work because I argued if they won't pay for the "birth" they need to at least cover the prenatal visits. I am getting a huge portion of it paid for because they pay for the prenatal visits at 100% and they just won't pay for the vaginal birth. Oh, and my midwife is also billing them separately for the well-baby exams. Hope that helps!