How do people pay for homebirth?

[RachelGS]

I'm so frustrated. Some circumstances have come up at my birth center that are making me rather abruptly consider homebirth. However, because my insurance (Blue Cross PPO) covers a birth center birth, the whole thing (prenatal, postpartum, birth, all of it) is only $15 out of my pocket. But homebirth is thousands of dollars. My DH recently started a business, and money is tight. Add a birthing tub and whatever would need to be done about our inadequate hot water heater, and it starts to feel scary. I'm very stressed out.

[Artisan]

There are some women here who have had good luck getting their insurance companies to reimburse. The key is NOT to call and say "Do you pay for homebirth?" There is a way around it -- hopefully they will reply here.

Deep breaths, deep breaths!

[swebster]

my midwife has a sliding scale of $1800-2200, and I'm in your area. We're using the kiddy pool option for a birthing pool it's under 20 bucks from the second link and comes very highly recomended by both my midwife and the women here on MDC. We've been saving up-but perhaps this isn't the "thousands" you're expecting? I've been reading the thread about costs here in the homebirth forum and am actually very surprised how reasonable prices are here (maybe it's just my midwife-I loved her so much I didn't even bother interviewing others). I'm doing concurrent care as well through Mt. Auburn (only place my insurance will cover), so have been able to get all labs paid for through them.

I don't know how to IM, but if you send me a message through the private message function thingy I'll respond with her name and contact info.

Good luck.

[alegna]

We put the homebirth on a new credit card with an intro offer of 0% for a year. Then our insurance reimbursed 100%

FWIW- if your insurance covers midwives (which I guess they do since you were having a birthing center) they have to cover homebirth too. As the insurance co. they can't tell providers WHERE to practice


-Angela

[swebster]

the problem is that most insurance will only cover CNM's and it is very difficult (if not impossible) to find a CNM who is willing to attend a homebirth-at least in Massachusetts. There are a few other threads dealing with this same issue.

also, my insurance will absolutely only cover birth at the one hospital in the plan and only with the providers in the plan.

[mwherbs]

is there a written policy that refuses payment?
I looked on the tri-care web address under maternity care and they have a homebirth topic but it doesn't stipulate care provider

http://www.tricareonline.com/

[alexia_i_aa]

Even insurance companies that explicitly refused hb have paid after being hounded enough

My insurance covers MW regardless of location and even the birth pool rental (hey, cheaper for them than epidural), so I'm lucky. We did pay out of pocket up front (luckily, I got an unexpected bonus, but if not, I would have sold stuff on eBay, saved, done whatever). We'll get reimbursed afterwards. My mw was excited to hear about my insurance because they have a good record for paying up.

There are ways -- hang in there!

Alexia

[AngelBee]

:

[hunnybumm]

I am sort of going through the same thing, only there is no birth center in my area that my ins will cover. I found a few CNMs in my area, but only a couple did hbs and none of those would travel the 2+ hours to my area. I would call your Ins company and ask what type of midwife they cover. Ask about CPNs then ask about CNMs. If they only cover CNMs then ask for a the a referal to a CNM who does homebirths. I was shocked at how calm and respectful my Ins company was. I expected to hear "OMG, you want what?" but I only got "Hmm, I am not sure let me direct you to so and so who knows more about this coverage." etc.

Good Luck!

[Castle]

I live near the OP, and I'm in the same boat. My insurance (Tufts HMO) will pay for birth center births, and will even pay for homebirths, as long as the midwife is a CNM in their network. I was not able to find a single CNM that does homebirths around here, let alone one in their network. So I'm going with a birth center for prenatals and as back up for a planned UC.

[indie]

For me, paying totally out of pocket for my midwife means that I can't use my tax return money to buy a used car like I have been planning for a long time. It sucks since we're a one car family and I've really been looking foward to being able to get me and dd out into the community but I felt a homebirth was worth waiting on the car.

[amanda2b2]

I see that you are in Boston, How far are you form NH? There are a few on the southern border of NH.
http://www.nhmidwives.org/find.html
There is also The Birth Cottage in New Ipswhich
http://www.birthcottage.com/
I guess thaqt would all depend on how close you are to the line.

[ZeldasMom]

scrapin' and savin'! :LOL Like a pp, we are a one car family. DP takes the bus to work. We were going to get a mini van, but decided this is more important.

I don't think you have to have a home birth to have a positive birth experience. So much depends on your personal situation and the resources available to you.

What about stepping back from thinking about this for a few days and then thinking about ways you might make the birth center work? What about having a doula who is not affiliated with them? This would cost too (unless you can find someone in training you like who would be willing to do it for low cost/free), but it would be less than a home birth.

[my3luvs]

I paid cash all three times, I had an HMO and there was no way it was going to pay for a midwife. We ate a lot of beans in those 9 months!

[Rach]

Credit cards? I imagine that's what we'll be doing.
{hugs and good luck!}

[be11ydancer]

Good ideas. You're all so creative.

[aolinsmama]

we paid with our tax return, we had no insurance-also i know lots of midwives do barter/ trades,even partial, take payments, etc. not all i am sure, but it doesn't hurt to ask/try. my midwife is having an addition to her house built by this!

[Music-mommy]

We pay out of pocket for our midwife. It's well worth it if it means the birth you want to have.

Hey if you do cloth diapering you will save about $2000 in 2.5 years. So there it is right there. And when you're done with them you sell them on ebay for almost what you paid for them.

We cloth diaper, and didn't do a baby room, didn't buy all the crap everyone buys, for a nursery.

If you own a home you can usually get a secured line of credit at a very low interest rate, like 3% or something. Or you can get a personal line of credit at a bank for a low rate too.

[Maggi315]

Most of these ideas have already been posted but here is some of what I have seen:
-offer to barter: We have lots of craftsman who work on the midwives home, yard and are currently building her a garage.
-payment plans: Start saving X dollars per month and see if you can work out paying the rest after the birth
-Selling stuff either on ebay, or yard sales or newspaper. People get real creative here and have sold big ticket items they rarely use (like snow blower, etc.) or sold part of their book collection, basket collection, etc. You can always save up again to buy these items but this birth is a once and done shot!
-Using tax return money
-taking out small loan or home equity loan or loan against vehicle or other large ticket item like boat or RV
-borrowing from parents
-taking an extra job until baby is born either out of home or doing stuff like daycare, newspaper delivery route (good exercise for pregnant ladies!),mowing lawns, etc.
-Of course, droppping extras like cable, cellphone (to bare minimum), long distance, health club,magazine, movie subscriptions, etc, etc. and reducing groceries to bare minimum. of course, hard to do if you are living already at bare minimum.
-offer to use apprentrice for discounted fee

Good luck, I know it is hard but it is so important! In an ideal world, we would all be planning ahead and saving, but in the real world most of us are living paycheck to paycheck (and sometimes, like I have been doing this week..floating til tomorrow)

[ZanZansMommy]

Rachel,

I'm in Ma & doing a homebirth. My mw told me that *most* PPO's would cover the cost of the prenatal visits. Not sure how much that would take off of the total bill but it's something. Our fee is $2900 for everything. Perhaps you could make a few phone calls to differnt mw's in the area to see if they'd bill insurance & if they know about possible reimbursement. I have an HMO so they'll cover nothing. I have simply alloted extra $$ for this birth & have had to skimp on a lot of other things......Another thought is have you considered another CNM? Louise Basterache in Wareham is phenomenal ...I know it's a bit of a drive but I would consider her if you really want a *homebirth* type expereince in a hospital setting. She has her very own section with her own handpicked nurses at Tobey general hospital. I cannot say enough about her.

if you'd like more info on my homebirth mw or Louise & my experience just PM me. Good Luck.