Health Care Options

[dbarker2 1]

My wife is 9 weeks pregnant, and hopefully if everything goes smoothly with the consulate and interview (crossing fingers) she should be here by March or earlier. Anyway, I have health insurance through the University where I am studying, but since she is already pregnant, from what I understand from the health policy, she is not eligible to be put on my plan when she gets here. Basically my question is if anyone has any advice on what we can do to get her covered during her pregnancy and for delivery, etc.. Most of the health plans that I have looked at have very high deductibles and from what I have read a lot of them probably won't even consider her because she is already pregnant.

I am pretty sure Medicaid is out of the question because of the affidavit of support contract .. so besides Medicaid, does anyone have any experience with this kind of situation? Thanks in advance for your answers.

Thanks

Daniel and Charbel

[JuneFirst 1]

Hey, that is a good question!

I have just been dignosed with MS, so we have "the same problem" and many questions on what to do to make sure I am covered.

[Penguin_ie 5,995]

I believe pregnancy is not allowed to be viewed as a "pre-existing condition" for adding a spouse to an already existing health insurance policy, but it may be different for universities.

If you are anticipating a normal pregnancy and delivery, check into a home birth with a midwife, or a birthing center; these are significantly cheaper than hospital birth. Even if you decide to go for hospital birth, contact some local hospitals; many have significantly reduced self-pay options, especially if you have some savings and can pay the whole fee ahead of time (we got a 30% reduction on fees by paying for all scheduled visits, labs etc at the first appointment).

[dbarker2 1]

Thanks for the response and suggestions. It seems a little strange to me to that my wife wouldn't be eligible to be put on my student health care plan because she is already pregnant, but this is what the plan specifically says, "To be eligible for benefits, you must maintain maternity coverage continuously from the beginning of the semester in which conception occurs to the date of delivery" Well, for us that would have been pretty difficult because conception occurred last semester and I had taken the semester off to be with my wife in Mexico, so it would have been impossible to maintain maternity coverage from the beginning of that semester.

Luckily my sister just had a baby and she called her doctor and he offers pretty good rates for uninsured pregnant women, so we should be ok in that respect. I'll probably head over to the hospital that is around the corner and see what they can offer as well. I would like to avoid Emergency Medicaid if possible, but that is what my sister's doctor suggested for the actual delivery, and from what I read on the affidavit of support that doesn't count as a means tested benefit, please correct me if I am wrong Thanks again for the responses, I'm just trying to get everything figured out before she gets here. Thanks

Daniel

[pushbrk 13,043]

Thanks for the response and suggestions. It seems a little strange to me to that my wife wouldn't be eligible to be put on my student health care plan because she is already pregnant, but this is what the plan specifically says, "To be eligible for benefits, you must maintain maternity coverage continuously from the beginning of the semester in which conception occurs to the date of delivery" Well, for us that would have been pretty difficult because conception occurred last semester and I had taken the semester off to be with my wife in Mexico, so it would have been impossible to maintain maternity coverage from the beginning of that semester.

Luckily my sister just had a baby and she called her doctor and he offers pretty good rates for uninsured pregnant women, so we should be ok in that respect. I'll probably head over to the hospital that is around the corner and see what they can offer as well. I would like to avoid Emergency Medicaid if possible, but that is what my sister's doctor suggested for the actual delivery, and from what I read on the affidavit of support that doesn't count as a means tested benefit, please correct me if I am wrong Thanks again for the responses, I'm just trying to get everything figured out before she gets here. Thanks

Daniel

Sounds like you are left with the same option you would have for any other expense you fail to plan for. You pay for it. Just comes with the territory.

[dbarker2 1]

Sounds like you are left with the same option you would have for any other expense you fail to plan for. You pay for it. Just comes with the territory.

Well, that was helpful ... Obviously I will pay for it, I am just trying to get suggestions from other people who have been in similar situations.

[pushbrk 13,043]

Well, that was helpful ... Obviously I will pay for it, I am just trying to get suggestions from other people who have been in similar situations.

Actually, your question was about obtaining health insurance to cover the cost of the pregnancy and delivery. As you already know, that coverage, if even available is likely to meet or exceed the cost of the actual medical expenses. This leaves you as a consumer of medical care services, for which you will "pay".

If you are successful in obtaining coverage that actually ends up costing less than the actual expenses, you will have succeeded in passing on a portion of your expenses to others AFTER realizing your failure to plan ahead. This is WHY any coverage available will be prohibitively expensive. Other policyholders don't appreciate having to pay your medical expenses.

[dbarker2 1]

Listen, all I am trying to do is get some advice to help my situation. Did I fail to plan ahead? Yeah, I probably did. Am I disappointed that my wife is pregnant and we are going to have a child? Absolutely not. I am simply doing the best I can to make the best out of a difficult situation - and condescending and judgmental comments definitely don't help.

I personally have no problem if money that I pay as my premium goes to help other policyholders who are in need of medical services. Because it would not affect my ability to get my expenses paid for when I need it. So unless I am just way different than most people, it's not other policy holders who don't appreciate paying for my medical expenses, it is the insurance companies that don't appreciate having to pay for them. Either way, I am already perfectly aware that I will most likely not get any insurance for my wife until after we have the baby and I will end up paying the majority of our expenses out of pocket, so that is why I was asking for advice on getting health care for lower income families. I am just trying to do my best, as I am sure most people on here are, to take care of my wife and future child, and if that is a bad thing than I am guilty in the first degree, because they are the most important thing in the world to me. Anyway, I appreciate your attempt to help and wish you the best.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

judgmental comments are unnecessary and add nothing to the discussion. If you have nothing useful to add in answer to the request, then please do not add anything.

Edited February 9, 2010 by Kathryn41

[pushbrk 13,043]

Listen, all I am trying to do is get some advice to help my situation. Did I fail to plan ahead? Yeah, I probably did. Am I disappointed that my wife is pregnant and we are going to have a child? Absolutely not. I am simply doing the best I can to make the best out of a difficult situation - and condescending and judgmental comments definitely don't help.

I personally have no problem if money that I pay as my premium goes to help other policyholders who are in need of medical services. Because it would not affect my ability to get my expenses paid for when I need it. So unless I am just way different than most people, it's not other policy holders who don't appreciate paying for my medical expenses, it is the insurance companies that don't appreciate having to pay for them. Either way, I am already perfectly aware that I will most likely not get any insurance for my wife until after we have the baby and I will end up paying the majority of our expenses out of pocket, so that is why I was asking for advice on getting health care for lower income families. I am just trying to do my best, as I am sure most people on here are, to take care of my wife and future child, and if that is a bad thing than I am guilty in the first degree, because they are the most important thing in the world to me. Anyway, I appreciate your attempt to help and wish you the best.

I'm as against judgmental comments as anybody here. Putting things in the appropriate perspective is important to understanding a situation. That the situation is a tough one doesn't make its description judgmental.

My duaghter just drove away in a car that has no collision insurance. If she totals it, I'll have to pay to replace it. I made the decision to accept that risk, so I could pay a lower premium. My insurance company is not going to allow me to buy collision insurance after the accident. This protects the other insureds from paying higher premiums to replace the car I didn't insure.

The only income insurance companies have from which to pay claims is premiums. The amount of premiums paid is directly related to expense. Insurance companies "underwrite" their risk based on certain criteria. One criteria is that they will not be insuring people only AFTER they get sick/pregnant/have an accident, etc. If they did otherwise, all insureds' premiums would be higher. All insurance is based on using the premiums of others to pay the claims of the claimants but the premiums paid are all based on undwritten risk criteria.

I'm just explaining WHY you're going to be left with the option of simply paying instead of insuring. That you didn't manage, for whatever reason, to purchase insurance at the time it would have been required to have coverage is simply the reason WHY you're left with that option. There's nothing judgmental about laying out the pertinent facts.

[dbarker2 1]

Alright, well thanks for explaining your response, I appreciate it.

Just to explain why I didn't have insurance .. my plan (through the University) would not allow me to add my wife to my plan until she got here, so since she is not here yet, there was no way for her to be put on it. You are right that I should have figured out something beforehand, but that's not really an option now, so I am doing what I can for now.

Thanks for your response.

[pushbrk 13,043]

Alright, well thanks for explaining your response, I appreciate it.

Just to explain why I didn't have insurance .. my plan (through the University) would not allow me to add my wife to my plan until she got here, so since she is not here yet, there was no way for her to be put on it. You are right that I should have figured out something beforehand, but that's not really an option now, so I am doing what I can for now.

Thanks for your response.

You don't need to explain to me. I made no comments about what you should have done and made no judgment about any of your decisions. I simply described the circumstances that limited your choices.