Being pregnant in America

Every insurance is different so you’d have to check with the insurance you are getting through your partner’s insurance. We do have midwives or OBGYN’s for appointments and the dualas is more for support during labor (I believe as I’ve never used one). Typically, you get seen every 4 weeks up until your third trimester then you go every 2 weeks until you’re full term then you’re seen weekly. I got ultrasounds at 12 weeks, 20 weeks, and 35 weeks but every place is a little different

Thank you for clearing that up. I feel a little out on a limb here as the SS issue is taking longer than expected. It's my first pregnancy, and I'm eager to have my 12-week ultrasound.

@Jenny do you know where you are going to go for prenatal care? You could always call the office and explain the situation and they may be able to start the appointments to make sure you’re getting the care you need

Do you choose your OBGYN yourself. What do you look for.

My partner is calling his insurance company today as they can backdate it, apparently. I know the 2 hospitals they are in network with.

@Jenny not all OBs take all insurance. Most insurances have a webpage you can login to and see who accepts them within a certain distance from your home after inputting your address or zip code. Then I’d research each of those options and go from there. Congratulations and good luck!

Thank you. This is very helpful.

Yeah like Renee said I’d just look who’s covered by your insurance if and then decide from there who you’d want to see

We do have home birth midwives and historical midwives but typically people go to an OB. But what is nice is that you can choose to do whatever you want. I’ve done a hospital birth but next time I will use a home birth midwife as long as I am low risk. The insurance process is a little more complicated with that but overall typically much less expensive than hospital births.

Just be prepared to pay thousands of dollars. My bill after birth WITH insurance was around $28k. Thankfully we were able to fight to have it lowered. But good luck. You said partner. Are you married? If not you may be able to claim Medicaid which is free healthcare in America.

doulas are not medical professionals, their job is to assist you through your labor/birth. and most are not covered by insurance so if that’s something you want you’ll have to pay out of pocket. depending on your insurance coverage you can choose an OB or midwife. you also have the choice of being in a hospital or independent birthing center or at home, depending on what your insurance covers. if you don’t know where to look for a provider, joining a local mom group on Facebook might be helpful. that way locals can give you suggestions

I am married, and my husband has healthcare insurance through his workplace. It's crazy how health care insurance charges more than not having insurance. What is the point in having insurance.

Going off what Melanie said, I pay for platinum level insurance, had an uncomplicated birth, checked out early, and still had about $14k in remaining bills. The tax on my epidural alone was $300 and insurance won’t cover the taxes. I’d recommend bringing some things to help keep costs down. For instance I was charged $20 for a bottle of 20 aspirin. Bring your own witchhazel wipes, peribottle, those little things add up.

our healthcare system is so messed up :/ it just depends on your situation cause in my case i qualified for Medicaid and we only owed about $1k after insurance

@Jenny insurance is and scam. If you weren’t pregnant I’d advise you just don’t have health insurance and just pay self pay rates whenever you need to go to the doctor or hospital and you’d save thousands overall

@Renee do you know how much you paid for insurance before this? Because my husband and I paid about $600 a month in health insurance and still ended up with an insane bill because the doctor who delivered my baby was “out of network”

This is very eye-opening. What's the criteria for medicaid, and do you get the same care. I currently don't have insurance, but I will do soon. I'll be sure to take everything I can think of to the hospital with me.

@Melanie it was through my husband’s work and we paid for platinum level insurance with united healthcare. So his employer paid some and we paid the difference. According to Forbes the premium for an Affordable Care Act plan is $590 a month so I think $600 for a couple is pretty inexpensive if that’s correct. I also have two friends who worked in the hospitals they gave birth at and both had bills of about $20-$30k pre-covid after insurance. This article may help you with insurance cost insight. https://www.forbes.com/advisor/health-insurance/how-much-does-health-insurance-cost/

@Jenny to apply for Medicaid, you’d need to fit under a certain financial bar based on factors such as location, household income, and number of people in your household. It can be used in combination with your private insurance so the hospital would bill your primary insurance and send the remaining bill to Medicaid. I’d definitely apply to check your eligibility. It isn’t too long of a process and worth it if you can use it. Not everywhere takes Medicaid but most hospitals do.

@Jenny here is the Tennessee site: https://www.tn.gov/tenncare/members-applicants/how-do-i-apply-for-tenncare.html

To your question, what to expect in healthcare support? The answer is to expect little. If your partner has "hospital indemnity benefits" separately from the insurance, take it this year. It is like a reimbursement of 2k-3k for your hospital stay. I paid like around 4k out of pocket for all the ultrasounds, visits, delivery, stay. I think not all insurances cover midwives/home births. To pay as little as possible, make sure that you choose a provider/hospital in-network with your insurance (go to the insurance website). Also expect little in post partum support. You will see a Lactation consultant at the hospital, see your doctor at 6 weeks and that's it. Everything else you gotta set up for yourself.

Thank you, I'll have a look.

Hey you. You are in for a little bit of a complicated ride. So your insurance will tell you that such and such obgyn is in or out of network, but all that means is that they do or do not work with your primary care. Last pregnancy I had to switch to a certain primary care doctor to get a midwife. This pregnancy, my midwife changed medical groups so I had to change my primary care again to get in to her group. If you find a midwife or obgyn you like, call them up and ask if they take your insurance "untited healthcare" for instance, if they do ask which group. Call united if its your insurancr and request a primary care who is in that group. Tell them to retrodate it to the first of the month. Congrats!

Good to know. I think my husband is going to ask his colleagues with young families who they used in the networks.

I’d say see what insurance plans are offered, how much they cost, what do they cover and calculate which one is the best. In my case we had couple plans to choose from, one was we paid about $2k from the salary, our deductible was 5800/family and insurance covered everything 100% after deductible, other plan was like $6k from the salary, deductible $500/person and max $2k out of pocket after that 100% everything covered. So I calculated that I’m better off paying $5800 with lower premiums from salary as this will be my max expense (and his work also gave 1500 to help cover deductible). Someone mentioned hospital indemnity insurance where they pay for your stay, then I called them they said regular delivery is not covered but in example emergency c section would be. So before signing call them up and ask if delivery would qualify to get a payment for hospital stay

I need to write all of this down. Thank you.