Help with talking to insurance Company Re: covering HB costs

[stephbrownthinks]

Hello!

So, I had the perfect home birth May 3rd. We switched to a homebirth at 30 weeks so there wasn't much time to figure out the insurance side of it. We paid out of pocket and even though I'm not counting on getting anything back, obviously even SOMETHING would be nice My midwife is giving me a bill, I assume for global charges.

I want to call the claim dep. and see what I can do. I talked to one person (just in cust. service) and she said that they wouldn't cover anything because our midwife wasn't a preferred provider. I pointed out that there WERE no homebirth midwives that were preferred providers in our area.

Any advice from those that have BTDT and gotten some of the charges reimbursed? I live in CA and have a Blue Shield PPO plan, and our midwife is an LM/ND if that helps. Thanks!!!

[DomestiKater]

i live in CA as well and also have Blue Cross/Shield PPO and they do cover homebirths (which is great because most policies will not even discuss it)

i was able to get them to give me an 'in-network exception'. i called and also had a contact from my midwifes billing department on a three way (so she could answer questions that i could not) i would suggest doing the same so you don't get tripped up on all the quesitons and back dating the billing stuff...

we qualified because there were no certified midwifes who would do a homebirth within a 90 mile radius of where i live. it took about 30 mins on the phone and also being transferred a few times but once they knew there were no other options for what i wanted to do, they agreed to give me an
'in-network exception'.

good luck! i am 38 weeks now and having my first home birth anytime...

[stephbrownthinks]

Originally Posted by DomestiKater

i live in CA as well and also have Blue Cross/Shield PPO and they do cover homebirths (which is great because most policies will not even discuss it)

i was able to get them to give me an 'in-network exception'. i called and also had a contact from my midwifes billing department on a three way (so she could answer questions that i could not) i would suggest doing the same so you don't get tripped up on all the quesitons and back dating the billing stuff...

we qualified because there were no certified midwifes who would do a homebirth within a 90 mile radius of where i live. it took about 30 mins on the phone and also being transferred a few times but once they knew there were no other options for what i wanted to do, they agreed to give me an
'in-network exception'.

good luck! i am 38 weeks now and having my first home birth anytime...

Thanks for the response! I am just kicking myself for not taking care of all this and getting it figured out BEFORE the birth. I hope I haven't waited too long.