homebirth midwife fees with insurance question

[mrsbrunette]

Hi all. I am in TX and will have BCBS PPO in a few weeks which will cover my pregnancy. My midwife is a CNM and thankfully covered. My only question is how the billing works. Does the midwife charge me all the fees (prenatal care + homebirth) and then bill the insurance after the baby is born? Or do midwives usually bill the insurance companies for the prenatal care after each visit and I pay the separate homebirth fee (excluding prenatal care) that will eventually apply towards my deductible? I'm just fretting about how much $ I am going to have to come up with.

My midwife's secretary is on vacation so that's why I came here to ask! Thanks!

[HeatherB]

It varies. You can pay up front, submit the bill/receipt to insurance, and get reimbursed, OR your midwife can bill it (which happens in full, after the birth) and then collect the deductible from you, plus anything additional she may require (such as if insurance doesn't pay enough). Unfortunately, it's very hard to know how much the insurance will actually pay out. You may be able to find out from the secretary how much they are accustomed to getting and what, if anything, they typically need additionally, if anything.

[spanishcrunchymama]

MW Fee

Do you know what your MW's fee is??

We have BCBS PPO FEP (Federal Employee Program), they cover maternity care at 100% so we are hoping they will reimburse us the entire fee. However our MW asks that you pay by 36 weeks and since the insurance would not accept a claim until after the actual event has taken place, we had to come up with the money on our own and wait until after the birth to get reimburse.

Assuming we do not have complications and there is no hospital transfer or anything out of the norm happening, we should get our fee back ($2,600). I guess I can come back and let you know after we have the baby, DD is Aug 24th.