MODERN FAMILY: Your Maternity Health Insurance Choices

by Article Master

Are you pregnant? Or are you a couple who would like to
have a baby? While health care issues have been on TV a lot
lately, I have not seen that much about the special needs
of pregnant women. It can cost thousands of dollars to have
a normal baby, and some pregnancies can cost a lot more.
Look for some ways to plan to have a healthy maternity.

Of course, everybody's first answer is to have group health
insurance that covers maternity. Most group plans, provided
by employers, do cover maternity. With good group health
insurance, the couple should have low out of pocket costs
so they can save their money for the expense of their new
baby after he or she is born.

But millions of Americans lack group health. Small business
people, self employed professionals, or unemployed workers
will not have any employer health benefits.

Many of these people do buy individual health insurance on
their own. This is fine for normal medical coverage, but it
may not cover maternity. While major medical should cover
any complications of pregnancy, it may not cover normal
doctor visits, tests, and the delivery.

Some plans may have a pregnancy rider (option) that can be
selected. This must be selected before a woman is pregnant,
and it does have an extra cost. This will not eliminate out
of pocket costs though. The deductible is usually fairly
high too, but at least, it will protect the family against
very high costs.

For people with some savings, but without maternity
insurance, a pre-paid plan may help. Some doctors or
hospitals offer these plans so the costs of maternity
health care can be planned for.

CHIPS, the children's health insurance program for moderate
to low income families, has been expanded to cover
maternity and delivery. CHIPs is the federal health
insurance program for children from lower income families,
and it has been expanded to cover...

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