How did you pay for your birth?

[CryPixie83]

My midwives (a wonderful team of 3 lovely ladies whom I admire greatly!) have a set fee of $2000 per birth ($800 more if twins or breech), which Im' fine with (it's less than a vaginal at the hospital and definately worth the cost to be able to birth freely at home). My problem is that a few months back, we hit a really rough spot financially, and had to use what money we had put back for the birth to pay for things like food and rent. Since then I've been slowly saving up everything I can.

So, my question is: Did anyone else have to make sacrifices, loose sleep, cry, etc while gathering the money to pay for your birth attendants? I guess I'm looking for a little emotional support... I'm at 33 weeks and they prefer payment at week 36... so I'm cutting it close to say the least.

[MomInCalifornia]

We are paying for our MW's out of our savings account. The fee is $4000.00 and we pay by 36 weeks. After the birth, we can send the bill to insurance ( Blue Cross PPO) and they will reimberse us about $1500-$2000.

We are using a CNM but our insurance would also cover a Licensed MW.

Would your insurance pay for part?

[lilmiss'mama]

We were lucky in that our mw let us continue making payments after the baby was born! She is the BEST!!

[georgia]

this time we used our tax return. last time, we paid in installments and put groceries on the credit card!!! not something that was a great idea, but it was so important. we just experienced a huge financial blow---so i'm feeling your pain---lots of crying going on in my house, too.

hb IS worth every penny--if it helps you at all. the *price* for birth on your terms---where and with whom you feel safest and most loved--is so low compared to the enormous *cost* of birthing anywhere else.

i would definitely consider a talk to your mw and let her know your emotional/financial state---that is a huge reason she's there---to know what's going on with you, physically, emotionally.....she can't make money appear, but i'm betting it will be helpful to talk about how you might work things out in a way that's mutually beneficial.

hang in----it will work out!!!!!

[CryPixie83]

Originally Posted by AbigailsMomSarah

Would your insurance pay for part?

Nope midwives are outlaws around here unfortunately, so giving any of their info or anything like that isn't possible.

[mollyeilis]

Our midwives give a significant discount for paying by a certain week, but we weren't able to get it all together by that time. We were going to make payments, but the difference in money between paying ahead of time and paying in installments just bugged us.

So I asked my brother for a loan, and to our great surprise (he and his wife are childfree by choice), he loaned us the money! So we were able to pay up front for a significant discount.

Whew!

We also plan on having our midwives bill insurance as out-of-network practitioners (the insurance company has ridiculous requirements for LMs that no one actually meets), and if by chance it works, they'll reimburse us.

[oceanbaby]

Our plan was to use our credit line that we have against our house, because it has a lower interest rate than our credit cards. Our insurance does not reimburse for homebirth at all, and the fee is $3200. Fortunately, my MIL offered to help us with the cost - surprising, as she thought the idea was nutso when we told her about it. But we were willing to go into debt for it. A hospital birth would have ended up costing us at least $1,000 for our portion.

I hate that women have to undergo such anxiety and worry to have their choice about where to birth.

[Sassafrass]

We paid for it using out tax returns this year.......well, we did make a deposit prior to that. Anyway, her fee is $2100, no discount no matter when or how you pay (I paid it all by the 5th month). But, our insurance says they will reimburse as an out-of-network provider and then we will use our MSA for the rest. So, I am only hoping to pay around 600 or so out of pocket, then be reimbursed by the MSA, Still much cheaper than going to the hospital!

Angela

[Mavournin]

We paid for our midwives with money we saved from selling our house. If/when we have another baby - I have no idea what we'll do. It was just luck that we had the money this time, and our new insurance won't cover anyone out of network.

[Defenestrator]

My midwives let me barter part of my fee (I have been a writer in the past and I did all of the copy for their website) and gave me a discount because I work for them. The remaining money due to them was paid by my student loan check.

There are loans out there designed for folks to use to pay medical bills.

One other option that you might get them to consider is accepting paypal. I have accepted paypal for a couple of years as a doula and my midwives also accept it. You may have to pay a little bit more to cover their fees, but it would allow you to put the bill on one or more credit cards.

Good luck!

[Konur's Mom]

ours is 1800, and we have 1000 from tax and will talk to her about payments Tuesday at my next appt. She also does bartering so we have to talk about that, too. If all else fails, we ask the ILs for a loan for the balance. After insurance, it would be about 1800, too. Our insurance wont pay for any part of the homebirth.

[Oh the Irony]

This issue definately has caused stress this pregnancy.

I met with a CNM and her fee was 2500$ and she required it all before the birth. At the time it was not an option and I think her lack of flexibility was a turn-off. She would probably have reduced her fee some, but paying it all before July was not an option--even though we could have gotten insurance reimbursement at 70% after the birth.

I then met with a CPM. Her fee is 1800$. We put several hundred down from tax refund. We had done a member loan to our food co-op several years ago when we were in much better financial shape. That came due, so we gave her 1000$. We will have about 3 months after the birth to pay another 300$ and then we bartered for 200$. She was great. She knew that we were considering all options to get the birth I wanted. We might not be able to get any insurance reimbursement since she is not a CNM, but at this point I don't care. My peace of mind in having someone that I feel totally comfortable with is priceless (within our limited funds!).

So, she will be 1600$ out of pocket. Using a preferred provider and a hospital we would probably be in the 1300$ range anyways.

[feebeeglee]

As far as I know, using a direct-entry midwife in Illinois is scarily (and ridiculously) illegal. If she submits it to the ins. co and they 'rat' on her, the midwives could be facing huge fines or even jail time for practicing medicine without a license. Of course I could be wrong (and just very paranoid... : )but I would definitely ask the midwives themselves before I gave documented evidence of their care to any institution.

[momto l&a]

Our first was paid for with tax return.
Our second was payments over months including after the birth.
Our third well we dont know yet. We had savings but that has been used in buying our new house. I guess it will be payments over months again. She knows us well enought that she doesnt care.

My mw charges 1,400.

[mooliette]

Our births were $2800 each, we were in the same boat as you with both births. Our midwife accepted payment plans, she had us pay what we could each month, she allowed us to pay the bulk of our bill at tax time. We had August and September births.

Good luck, I hope your midwife is able to work with you.

[annelizabeth]

I'm suddennly so gratful to live in a province that pays for birth by Midwife. All that was required was showing them my health card ( Pupliclly funded health care in Canada)

[Soogie]

My mw charges $3500 but she has a reduced rate of $1960 if you pay in full by 36th week. We also have United Healthcare and they will cover her at 70%. So what we are doing is paying the $1960 in installments until the 36th week, then after the birth she will file the claim with our insurance for the full amount of $3500 and when she is paid by UHC, we will be reimbursed our $1960. I felt it was fair to pay her ahead of time and let us deal with the hassle of the insurance. Even at $1960, it is only about $400 more than the total cost of a physician, hospital, and newborn care charges we would get charged if we weren't having a homebirth. And paying a little each month is helping a lot too.

Susan
mommy to Aidan (3 1/2), Fiona (2), and little boo edd 10/27/04

[CryPixie83]

Originally Posted by feebeeglee

As far as I know, using a direct-entry midwife in Illinois is scarily (and ridiculously) illegal. If she submits it to the ins. co and they 'rat' on her, the midwives could be facing huge fines or even jail time for practicing medicine without a license. Of course I could be wrong ...

Unfortunately you're dead accurate. I can't mention to my OB that I'm seeing a midwife, I can't tell other pregnant mamas about them, and the only way to refer them to other mamas is to get the mom's info and give it to them for them to contact her. My midwives even give out a 3 page run-down of Illinois' history with midwifery.. it's sad. The really weird part is that homebirth itself is perfectly legal.

[mooliette]

Originally Posted by annelizabeth

I'm suddennly so gratful to live in a province that pays for birth by Midwife. All that was required was showing them my health card ( Pupliclly funded health care in Canada)

I'm so envious of you!!

[MamaAllNatural]

For baby #2 we did a payment plan. For baby #3 she let us wait until we got our tax return. She also gave us a discount because we're pretty low income.