Does your health insurance plan cover maternity? Most of them will not, unless you specifically purchase that extra form of insurance. Without it, many families find themselves paying for those expenses out of pocket after their baby is born in the hospital.
Common sense would tell you that pregnancy, and childbirth, are natural functions of the human body. One would assume that the medical expenses that go along with prenatal care, postnatal care, and giving birth at a hospital would be covered by a typical health insurance policy. Most people would consider a pregnancy to be a blessing, and realize that women’s bodies are designed to produce children. Shouldn’t those type of medical expenses be covered?
Unfortunately, most health insurance companies see pregnancy, and childbirth, as nothing more than expenses that they don’t want to have to cover. The only way to get a health insurer to cover even a small amount of these types of medical bills is to purchase an extra form of insurance, called a maternity policy.
This will raise the cost of a person’s premiums. If you bought a maternity policy, and then got pregnant before twelve months have passed, you can expect your health insurer to deny all of your claims relating to the baby anyway. This is why people who are able to plan a pregnancy usually try and save up some money to pay for the hospital expenses that their insurer refuses to cover.
In general, a typical maternity health insurance policy will cover certain things. It should cover doctors visits, sonograms, ultrasound exams, tests, and lab work. It should cover prenatal care, and any vitamins or medicine that the mother requires.
It also will cover the actual delivery, anesthesia (if needed), at least part of the hospital stay, and the newborn check ups. It may also cover the expenses generated by complications, (such as premature births, or a necessary caesarean section).
Without maternity insurance, having a baby in a hospital becomes incredibly expensive. Hospital costs can run up to $15,000. A vaginal birth, with absolutely no complications, can cost around $9,000. An uncomplicated caesarean section can cost as much as $15,000.
This doesn’t include the cost of prenatal care, which can be as high as $2,000, or childbirth classes, which can run between $50.00 to $200.00 per class. Don’t forget all those other incidentals, like the necessary tests, scans, checkups, (or those overpriced aspirins that hospitals dispense).
I’ve been hearing in the news some stories about women who have given birth in places that are definitely not a hospital. A woman recently gave birth on a train. Another woman gave birth while stuck inside an elevator. I suppose that is one way to avoid the expenses related to giving birth in a hospital!
Image by Katelyn Kenderdine on Flickr