planning homebirth - get maternity insurance coverage?

[jillc512]

If we decide to have a third baby, we will plan a homebirth. It would be our 1st homebirth. We currently have a high-deductible health plan and HSA with no maternity coverage. We would use the HSA to pay for the homebirth.

So, should we get separate maternity insuarance "just in case" of a hospital transfer? I've had two uneventful pregnancies, and have attended several homebirths as a doula and midwife's assitant, so I believe my chances of requiring a transfer would be minimal. What would you do?

[*Erin*]

Originally Posted by jillc512

So, should we get separate maternity insuarance "just in case" of a hospital transfer? I've had two uneventful pregnancies, and have attended several homebirths as a doula and midwife's assitant, so I believe my chances of requiring a transfer would be minimal. What would you do?

every birth is different, you never know! i too figured on a normal homebirth, after having an uneventful first birth/preg.-but i wound up transferring-it woulda cost 30,000+ w/o ins. ! keep it!

[LittleLu'sMom]

I am no expert, but you may want to check your plan details for the high deductible coverage. I know most plans I've looked at that don't have regular maternity coverage DO cover 'complications of pregnancy'. How they define it may differ, but it could be worth checking into.

[MamaSong]

If you can afford it, I would get it. I am STILL paying off an ectopic pregnancy surgery - that's not something I ever planned on getting or thought I was at risk for, kwim? C-sections are WAY more expensive than my surgery was. How much risk are you willing to take? How much can you afford to pay if something did go wrong?

[srlpenny]

This is tough, its like a lightning strike. Chances are it won't happen, but if it does it could be devastating. I know my cousin who had no insurance had $20,000 in hospital bills for her birth, and another friend whose baby was born t 26 wks had a total of 300,000 in bills (luckily she had good insurance, but that's what the ins. co paid).
I always choose to be insured just in case rather than regret it later, more than a couple times I have been right.

[Gray's Mommy]

We have awesome health insurance, but they didn't cover a CPM, just a CNM. We just paid out of pocket for our birth. I really didn't want to "fight" about it with them. It was less our of pocket than if we would have used the insurance & that covered our birth photographer, doula & midwife asst. too.

[pixiepunk]

a lot of insurance policies don't consider emergency care to be covered under the regular maternity coverage. and most policies have a cap on what they will pay for maternity - mine, which we pay extra for, only pays $3000. of course, they cover homebirth, so that will more than cover my m/w's fees. but if i had to transfer to the hospital during labor due to problems/complications, that would've been emergency care just like if i was in a car accident or something, and would've fallen under my coverage for a trip to the ER with a deductible to pay before they picked up whatever percentage it is they pay for emergency care (can't remember atm).

so definitely look into it before you decide. if it was coverage like mine, paying the extra probably won't do you a lick of good in the case of a transfer, and the transfer stuff might already be covered by your current policy (minus deductible) so it might make more sense to just make sure you have enough to cover your deductible in your HSA (or in the bank, if you wouldn't have another use for it in the HSA and if it doesn't roll over from year to year).

[jillc512]

So I just read our insurance policy and found that "Complications of Pregnancy" are covered (after deductible). In addition, the baby would be covered from birth. Hooray!

So, we're going to skip the maternity coverage. With our high deductible, it would make more sense to just save the money ourselves, and then put it towards the deductible in case of emergency/transfer.

Thanks for helping me think this through!