Choosing health insurance for pregnancy and delivery
Health insurance was not a major concern for women pre-pregnancy, or during pregnancy. Since prenatal visits and delivery costs used to be affordable. Awareness of the different types of insurance, and their coverage has a huge effect on your health-related decisions. In this article, I will share some tips to help you choose the best health insurance plan for pregnancy and delivery.
Insurance awareness and women’s health
There are great discrepancies in the cost of delivery among hospitals, therefore you need to do your research on the best maternity hospital, the doctors, and the procedures that are done during delivery. You also need to be aware of the cost of all those steps and cross-check them with your health insurance coverage.
Prenatal education and awareness of the possibility of preterm labor, c-section, or any other possible complication, influence the mother’s awareness of health insurance plans and the coverage of such possible complications.
Understanding your insurance
You must learn everything about the test, and procedures you will need during pregnancy and delivery. In addition to the tests and procedures, your newborn will need, then cross-check them with the list of coverage provided by your health insurance company. You also need to check whether these tests and procedures are optional or mandatory to know how to negotiate extra coverage from your insurance provider. This step increases the parents’ awareness and decreases their anxiety about any unforeseen complications and will spare them the drama of accusing the health insurance company or the medical staff.
Does the mother’s health insurance cover the baby?
Usually, maternity health insurance covers a newborn for the first 30 days. This coverage includes vaccines, doctor’s visits, and circumcision. But this coverage doesn’t include any anomalies that need surgery and treatment. Therefore, you need to inquire about the amount of coverage your baby will get through your insurance and try to increase it to include any unforeseen conditions.
Is the insurance supposed to cover everything?
Some hospitals are not capable to deal with certain rare medical conditions, so the related tests are sent to external labs or other hospitals. In this case, the insurance will not cover the tests for these rare conditions. Therefore, financial and medical literacy are essential skills for expecting couples to be prepared for such cases, and to accept them without blaming the medical team or the insurance company.
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