Yeah for Midwives :)

[umsami]

So, some of you might remember the oh crap I'm going to have to do my own high risk prenatal care.. as my insurance is ending... we have a 90 day wait in effect.... and do not qualify for medicare for pregnant women.

In the meantime, I've been calling up OBs and Perinatologists asking what they'd charge to see me on a cash basis for the next three months--explicitly stating that I will have health insurance as of May 1st. Some have quoted me ridiculous fees... 1500/visit... $700/visit... etc. Others said they have to charge me the cash price for all prenatal care and delivery and divide it into x number of monthly payments--even though I would have insurance later. So that equaled $550+ per month.

Well, even though I am high-risk, today on a slim chance, I called up the local midwife group (CPMs). The midwife was so nice... and said she needed to check with their back-up OB (who I had actually already seen...long story)... but she would let me know. If she saw me, it would only be about $100/visit. Wow. Reasonable. I realize that there's a chance she may say "no"...but just the fact that she was so reasonable is a great sign IMHO.

Part of me thinks the problem may be that I'm talking to office staff... who won't let me talk to the actual OBs. Part of me just thinks it's the greedy system. I want to believe that there isn't an OB out there who wants a 41 year old diabetic hypothyroid patient to go without prenatal care for months... but then again, I could be wrong.

Anyways, just wanted to say for Midwives

[MaerynPearl]

that she can do it

if not, perhaps you should look into FPs/GPs as well... they can give you at least the basic stuff for both your diabetes and your pregnancy and as long as they know that as soon as your insurance kicks in in May you will go to a high risk/specialist... at least that way you could still have the medical help you need... and my personal experience is FPs/GPs are a bit cheaper when you pay out of pocket.

[moonglowmama]

Oh, I really hope it works out for you!

This is exactly what's wrong with a 3rd-party payer system like we have now with insurance the go-between for care providers and patients. If we all had our health savings and could shop around for who will give us what we want and for how much could be negotiated, just think how much nicer it would be!

[LovnMyBoys]

I really hope this works out for you. What a stress to have to worry about how to pay for your care.

[Galatea]

That is maddening. Insurance issues drive me nuts. We are also in the gap of not being able to pay for our own insurance but making too much for Medicaid. Our insurance ends 2/28, and I was calling OBs to try to get 1 early US to rule out twins so I could feel fine seeing my CM, and one office told me that they wouldn't see me now b/c "I had to go to the [poor] clinic." Um, no, now I have "good" insurance so why won't you take my money?

[umsami]

That's a good idea about FPs... but sadly, probably 99% of them in my area no longer do obstetrics. If I had to, I could see my 90 year old Uncle...who retired as a FP doc about 5 years ago. He's about 1-1/2 hours away. (He was our backup plan when one of my kids was breech and didn't want to turn. He's delivered a ton of breech babies in his days and wasn't concerned at all...where my OB had only done c-section breech births. Baby did cooperate and change positions, though.)

I actually wrote both of my senators and used this as a "get your *** moving on health care reform." Even if people are against single payer, I think that ALL children and pregnant women should be covered regardless. If all people over 65 are covered, why not some of our most vulnerable folks? Well, actually I think everybody should be covered, but I'd at least that would be a step in the right direction.

I should know by Wednesday whether or not she can see me.