If you leave AMA will the insurance still pay?

[deanawo]

If things go as well with this baby as they did with #1 I want to leave a few hours after the birth. I was miserable & was not able to rest at all before, plus now he is 2 & cries for me nonstop when I get out of his sight. We cosleep, it will be my first night without him. I have tons of family support to help take care of him, me, & #2 when I get home. I think we will all be happier that way.

I am thinking I will check out AMA, & get the 2nd PKU done at the 2 day baby checkup at the ped's office.

Will my insurance still pay for labor & delivery if we leave early? If they don't I will have to stay.

[Lucky Charm]

I cant answer for labor and delivery units specifically, but in the ER, if you leave AMA, your insurance will not cover the visit. You will get stuck with the bill.

I am not saying this is fair. I am not saying i agree with it. I am just saying what happens. I would ask your doctor or midwife to write specific orders so this isnt an issue.

[citizenfong]

I can chime in with the fact that if you leave a nursing home or rehab unit AMA Medicare and Medicaid have the right to refuse payment.

That's something I always think of when people say, "You can leave the hospital if you want...they can't keep you there." True, but...not always as easy as that.

Why not call your insurance company and ask what their policy is?

[deanawo]

Thanks......I am going to call them in the morning. I was thinking about it & couldn't sleep so thought I would ask rather than think about it all night.

I has assumed that if I left AMA & had to come back there wouldn't be coverage, but didn't know if they would cover the time I was there.

I guess I had better talk to my ob too.

I have read a lot of online posts about people leaving AMA, but how could most afford it if the insurance doesn't pay? Anyway, thank you.

[georgia]

Ah, homebirth sounds lovely right now, eh?

has your care provider already said it would be ama going home early? i would definitely talk to ob/mw first, if you haven't already. we have an ob around here who *allows* mothers to leave after about 6 hours. have you found a ped who can come soon after birth to discharge?

side note: my unsolicited advice would be do pku only after your milk has come in. otherwise, results may skew.

hope it all works out!

[deanawo]

I really only started thinking about this today. I don't know why it took so long to occur to me.

Homebirth isn't an option, as the hosptial is a 2 hour drive away & if there was an emergency it would be too late. I wish it were possible - I would much prefer to home birth. There aren't midwives or doulas here either I am in the sticks.

My ob doc is pretty lax/modern compared to many docs here. So is my ped, although he doesn't work in that hospital & won't see ds until the follow-up exam. I only found him a few months ago. He was busy lecturing me about how I shouldn't give juice, should have breastfed, etc when I jumped up & hugged him with relief lol. He is the first doc I have found that supports this. I don't do juice, & was devastated when ds self-weaned at 19 months b/c I was determined to go at least 2 years. (I am sure it was b/c I was pregnant) I w/ill definitely be keeping this ped. I had one doctor tell me I should be ashamed for bf'ing past 6 months.

[Greaseball]

I've heard they won't pay if you do anything AMA in l&d. Maybe it depends on your plan.

But, they can't refuse to pay if you just bring your other child with you! They might even want you to leave early then.

You could always tell them that if your ins won't pay, you won't pay either, and then they won't be paid.

[OnTheFence]

I have left AMA and my insurance covered. I think if you wait 6-12 hours after the birth without problems, the drs will normally release you. At least here they will. I know many mothers, even mainstream mothers who had epidurals, etc. that have left 6-12 hours after a healthy birth.

I was prepared to fight when I left AMA for my insurance to pay. I contacted my attny before I left the hospital because I feared they would call CPS on me. My newborn was having terrible apnea. I took him to the pediatriican who advised us to do a 23 hour admit. When I got there. They told me I couldn't nurse for X amount of hours while they did some tests. By the 3rd hour I was hysterical. Then he started to cry, I gave him a pacifier and worked with him and fell back asleep but by the sixth hour I was going to nurse him come hell or high water.
They didnt like that one bit. They put him on a apnea machine and it was going off every few minutes because it was broke. This went on for several more hours. I was getting more and more upset and the DR never came to see us or would return my calls. I then got really agitated. My BP was high. I told them I was leaving AMA and the nurses that had been nice to me turned into total bitches. They told me I was risking my baby and that if I left the hospital he would die. I told them where to take their apnea machine and shove it where the sun doesnt shine. Add a few choice bad words. I had to sign my life away at that point to leave and have his security band cut off.
No one helped me at all. So I carried my ten pound baby, baby car seat, and huge diaper bag back to my car that was literally a mile from the room. I was not supposed to carry any thing over the weight of my baby due to have a csection. I was told right before I left that insurance would probably not pay if I left. I said I didnt give a shit.
They did pay. My pediatrician "fired" me. Like I was going back to her again. Now I have this real conservative old guy who has literally let me take the lead and has a cooperative relationship with me in the most conservative mainstream practice where I live. I did take my baby to that pediatrician the next day just in case CPS had been called on us.

[Justice2]

You are very lucky, ONTHEFENCE that you were able to get your insurance company to pay. I have paid med (both hmo and non hmo) claims for 2 separate companies in NC and SC and both had stipulations that they could refuse payment if a person left a hospital admission AMA. That doesn't necessarily mean that they would refuse, but it left them that option.

[DreamsInDigital]

I worked out an agreement with my nurses and midwife that I would stay for 6 hours after the birth, but after that I wanted to be discharged with my baby and left free to go, not AMA.
It turns out the baby was born at night and I was too tired to go home until the next morning, but I did leave 16 hours after he was born.