Birth Centers in Seattle? - Page 2

[kbond]

DahilaRW knows more on this then I do. Go with her interpretation.

[sarabecca]

Originally Posted by DahliaRW

The law only says they have to cover liscenced midwives, not homebirth. So they can require you birth at a birth center with said liscenced midwife, and refuse to cover the birth fees if it's not at an approved facility. So by law, homebirth is not covered, but midwives are.

Thanks so much for the info. Does it matter if the homebirth midwife I chose only offers home birth services? She doesn't have a licensed birth center so I can't pick her and still give birth at a licensed birth center. I'm guessing it doesn't matter and they'd just tell me to pick a different midwife who *does* have a licensed birth center.

I wonder what would happen if all the other midwives *with* licensed birth centers were unavailable/booked the month of my birth? As far as I know, there is only one (maybe two) other midwives in my county who have birth centers. Would they then tell me I had to use an OB or CNM? Hmmmm....Thanks again for any info.

ETA: I love my midwife and I would never switch to another one to get the birth covered. I definitely want a home birth too and not a birth center birth so I'm just wondering if there might be any loopholes so I could get the home birth covered.

[Keeta]

sarabecca, do you know for a fact that your insurance does NOT cover homebirth? Call them and find out, it should be pretty straightforward. I've been pleasantly surprised that my insurance seems to cover all the midwives I'm currently interviewing (one of which is a homebirth-only midwife). I have Uniform insurance.

[sarabecca]

Originally Posted by Keeta

sarabecca, do you know for a fact that your insurance does NOT cover homebirth? Call them and find out, it should be pretty straightforward. I've been pleasantly surprised that my insurance seems to cover all the midwives I'm currently interviewing (one of which is a homebirth-only midwife). I have Uniform insurance.

Yes, I called and asked and they said they would not cover a homebirth. I even had them check to see what changed since they covered dd's homebirth 3.5 years ago with no problem. Apparently, they changed the policy in 2007 and will no longer cover homebirths. The birth has to take place in a hospital or licensed birth center in order to be covered. Ugh.

[DahliaRW]

Some midwives will do "creative" billing. You probably can get them to cover the prenatals, but not the actual birth costs, if you petition. I know about it because my sister had the same issue with Aetna. She ended up birthing at PSBC because she didn't feel comfortable with the MW lying to the insurance for her to get homebirth covered.

[sarabecca]

Thanks for the info. Our insurance company has no problem paying for the prenatal appts. so that's good. They just get all hot and bothered by a home birth for some reason. The licensed birth center that's practically next door to me is fine, but my home is not. Silly. I wonder what happens when you don't make it to the birth center in time. If the place of birth is "car" or "sidewalk" or "on your way out the door to the birth center," is it covered, lol?

I thought about the "creative" billing option too. It's not something I would ever ask anyone to do and my dh dislikes the idea in general, so that's probably a no go. But it did cross my mind.

I'll be looking into this more...thanks again for the info!

Oh, and my apologies for totally derailing this thread!

[jess5377]

Sarabecca, are you on a United PPO in Washington? Your plan sounds a lot like mine and the billing agent for my midwife said they're super vigilant about any "creative" billing and if you put, say, the home address as the birthing center address, they'll call and follow up to make sure it's a licensed birthing center. I'm just going to suck it up and pay for it. It's a drag, but probably cheaper than the 20% I'd have to pay for a hospital birth, right?

[momtokay]

Awww, I'm so sad to hear about the Community Birth Center. My 6yo was born there.