Motherhood is a magical moment for any woman, especially those who undergo it for the very first time as everything is uncertain.
The change which a woman’s body undergoes during pregnancy is already monumental, so the least that can be done to ease the process is to take care of everything else, including and especially the cost of childbirth.
If you have friends who have gone through the beautiful yet painful ordeal of childbirth, then they must’ve told you how expensive the entire process can be. From the seemingly infinite doctor’s appointments to the many tests you must conduct in those 9 months, everything costs a lot of money.
Having sufficient insurance to cover all of this expenditure is necessary, unless you have thousands of dollars stacked away.
However, having insurance is not enough. While you may think your healthcare plan covers pregnancy, many a times that is simply untrue.
Instead of waiting around for the truth to reveal itself, if you are planning to have a baby or already have a bun in the oven, there are some questions which you need to ask from your insurance company right away.
Asking the Right Questions
The Affordable Care Act (ACT) has made things much easier for expecting moms as a lot of the medical services required during maternity have now been mandated as part of most healthcare coverage plans.
However, there are a few important details which may be excluded from your plan which you may end up requiring during your pregnancy. Hence, it’s pertinent that you ask a few important questions from the insurance company right away.
First you need to ask about the cost which would be covered pertaining to the method of delivery, including both the C-section and the normal delivery methods. Then you need to inquire about the services which are covered under your plan, clarifying how these services impact the deductible which you must pay out of your own pocket.
To take advantage of all these coverage points, it’s important that the doctor as well as the hospital which you want to subscribe to is included in the network. Insurance only covers those medical bills which originate from its network of hospitals and doctors.
Sometimes, and sadly so, insurance companies require their subscribers to call and seek pre-approval before rushing to the hospital at the time of delivery. Ask your insurance company whether they, too, have this requirement.
You may also be entitled to get a breast pump absolutely free of charge within a limited time after your delivery. However it helps to ask the time duration after delivery that this offer will remain valid.
If you are going for a home birth and want your insurance to cover that as well, then that may be a difficult expectation to fulfill.
Insurance companies are all about taking calculated risks, and since the expected risk in a home birth is much higher compared to a delivery that takes place in a hospital, finding a healthcare plan that covers home births may be like searching for a needle in a haystack. However, there is no harm in asking.
Ask About Post-Delivery Benefits
Your financial pains do not end at the time of childbirth. However with insurance they can be greatly mitigated.
Normally, insurance plans do cover certain medical procedures after childbirth, such as newborn screenings like a bilirubin test (which checks whether your baby has jaundice or not), blood screening to ensure everything is going well, a hearing screening to assess proper functioning, and other tests deemed necessary.
A lot of credit goes to the ACA for helping make these post-delivery medical assessments part of insurance coverage.
Then there is the post-partum checkup that happens after 6-weeks, and of course that too costs money. Ask your insurer whether that checkup is covered under your scheme or not.
Then after your health and the health of your newborn baby are ensured, it’s time to feed him or her. To facilitate this process of breastfeeding, insurance plans, thanks to the ACA, also need to cover breastfeeding equipment costs as well as certain supplies.
Hence, you should be entitled to a free breast pump as well, and confirming the same with your insurance company will save you a few hundred dollars.