Best Insurance for HB? (FEHB in D.C. area)

[grainneso]

Good afternoon. I am a Federal government employee, insured under the FEHB program. As such, I have the option to choose from over a dozen different insurance companies. Since home births are not mainstream, it is difficult to find any insurance premium information. As a result, when I was pregnant with my first child, I had to call several insurance companies and asked them what percentage they would pay for home births/out of network midwives... and assume that the information I was given over the phone was correct. I ultimately chose Care First Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance because they seemed to pay the highest percentage of home birth costs. In spite of the fact that Care First Blue Cross Blue Shield seemed to offer the best benefits, I still paid over $1,000 out of pocket for the "luxury" of a home birth.

I am planning a second pregnancy, and I would like to give birth at home again. However, I am not interested in paying as high a percentage out of pocket this time. Why pay a montly premium when maternity services are barely covered? Do you have information on FEHB-participating insurance companies and their home birth reimbursement rates? If not, can you direct me to someone/somewhere that has the figures and has done the research?

Thank you in advance!

[DCMama01]

Originally Posted by grainneso

Good afternoon. I am a Federal government employee, insured under the FEHB program. As such, I have the option to choose from over a dozen different insurance companies. Since home births are not mainstream, it is difficult to find any insurance premium information. As a result, when I was pregnant with my first child, I had to call several insurance companies and asked them what percentage they would pay for home births/out of network midwives... and assume that the information I was given over the phone was correct. I ultimately chose Care First Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance because they seemed to pay the highest percentage of home birth costs. In spite of the fact that Care First Blue Cross Blue Shield seemed to offer the best benefits, I still paid over $1,000 out of pocket for the "luxury" of a home birth.

I am planning a second pregnancy, and I would like to give birth at home again. However, I am not interested in paying as high a percentage out of pocket this time. Why pay a montly premium when maternity services are barely covered? Do you have information on FEHB-participating insurance companies and their home birth reimbursement rates? If not, can you direct me to someone/somewhere that has the figures and has done the research?

Thank you in advance!

I'm on the BCBS Standard plan and have paid $15 copay for my first maternity appt and nothing since. The rest is covered at 100% as my midwives are preferred providers. I almost switched to Aetna PPO last open season, but I'm glad I stayed with BCBS. My only out of pocket expenses are for birth supplies and food not provided by the midwives.

[LaurenAnanas]

I also have BCBS Standard. I paid nothing out-of-pocket for my maternity/postpartum care and FSBC birth. If we have a second, I expect it to cover my homebirth!

Note that BCBS Basic covers less- I think it has copays for maternity care, don't know about actual delivery.

[grainneso]

Will you please share your midwives' names and contact info? Thanks in advance!

[Little Shepherds]

I s BCBS Standard bcbs al?

[DCMama01]

I'm with Birthcare in Old Town Alexandria. 703-549-5070

[DCMama01]

Originally Posted by Little Shepherds

I s BCBS Standard bcbs al?

I am unsure of what you're asking, can you clarify?

[Little Shepherds]

Originally Posted by DCMama01

I am unsure of what you're asking, can you clarify?

We have BCBS Alabama and I am wondering if that is Standard?

[CEG]

Not in DC but we have BCBS standard and it pays 100% for homebirth (with a preferred provider) with a $20 copay. If only there were any preferred providers in our area....
[ETA: we have BASIC not standard, so we have to stay in-network to get coverage. Out of network= no coverage]

That's per a conversation I had with them last week. I was also told that the benefits do not vary based on which state you have administering the plan, but a birth center midwife told me that some states are more likely to pay than others (i.e. we just moved and she said our old state usually pays but our new state doesn't-- they are out of network). The same MW told me Aetna and Cigna usually work better with birth centers but I don't remember seeing them as options on the website.... need to go back and look.

[LaurenAnanas]

Originally Posted by Little Shepherds

We have BCBS Alabama and I am wondering if that is Standard?

No- we are discussing the plan available to Federal Gov't Employees.

There are many different BCBS plans, all run and owned separately. My husband has BCBS (of Indiana, or something) through his non-gov't employer and it has totally different coverage. But we checked, and it does cover midwifery care.

RE: Midwives

We used Special Beginnings in Arnold, MD.

[engineer_mom]

I was trying to figure out which FEHB plans (in NJ) allow HB and if they do what the cheapest plan would be...but I can't tell which plans allow HB since it is never mentioned in the brochures. *sigh*

Mail Handlers seems to be the cheapest. But I don't know anyone who has it, let alone who has had a HB with it. But their brochure mentions birthing center!