Cost for Delivery

[alimomma]

I was wanting to know if anyone knows about how much it is for the cost of a baby's delivery if you are with Select Med insurane. That is the insurance I carry, and my fiance will be getting Blue Cross Blue Shield with his work in about 6 weeks. Would Blue Cross Blue Shield be better?

Also, with me being about 4 months pregnant at the time my fiance gets his insurance, if we decided to be insured under Blue Cross, would the delivery still be covered or do we have to wait until a certain date to be covered?

[alimomma]

so if i have select med already as my primary insurance, and we want to go with BCBS. . . can i use them as my primary insurance?

[kjbutcher]

Most likely you will have to pay something out of pocket.  I think it will be the lesser of the two deductibles.  Insurances are not stackable, meaning you cant use one to cover the others deductibe unless one of the two has a zero deductible.  Where a secondary insurance would work well is if your primary insurance only covered $10,000 then BCBS will pick up after $10,000.  Blue cross will most likely cover IF you tell them you are covered under the other insurance.  Most of the time if you already have insurance pre existing conditions are covered.  Pre existing conditions are mostly not covered if you get something and try to find insurance to cover once you know you have something.  Since you were prepared, they may pick up as secondary insurance.  The biggest thing for you is to make sure on the application they know you are pregnant AND you put the policy number of your current insurance.  Your husband may also have a choice of plans.  Make sure you know what you are talking about with the 80/20 or 50/50 out of pocket and all of the copays and deductibles.  All three are very different and can really cost you a ton of money if you dont understand.  I actually have an insurance license so if you have any questions feel free to pm me.  Lastly, make sure you do get on that insurance even if it wont cover much because it will pick up for your baby starting with day one and you dont have to tell them about the baby for 30 days.  So anything with in the thirty days is covered for free (most of the time) and that is really important since the pedi bills from the hospital are very expensive and should something go not as expected you dont want to be worring about calling the ins co immediately.  You will want to make sure you are making the best decisions for your baby.  Well good luck and enjoy that aflac money!

[alimomma]

it looks like we are going to want to get a better plan, even if it is more expensive. i want to be totally covered if our baby is born premature or anything like that.

[momof2with1onway]

I have BCBS of Alabama and my insurance pays 90% and i am left with 10% of delivery which will cost me 225. I don't have any co-payments at my doc visits and when the baby gets here i will put it on my insurance because all the well baby check-ups are free for me and if he/she gets sick at other times i only have a 10.00 co-payment.
  My DH has BCBS of Alabama to but his insurance is crazy he has a 30 dollar co-payment on everthing and anytime you go in the hospital to stay its a 500 deductible plus 50 a night and whatever the doctor charges so every plan is different!!!

[alimomma]

Thanks everyone for all your comments. I was researching insurance online to see if pregnancy is a pre-existing condition, and I guess there were so many lawsuits against insurance companies saying that is not fair, and the insurance companies didn't win any of the suits, so that is not a law now. So when my fiance gets his insurance, I will make sure he gets the maternity coverage as well and that we look into everything. Right now, it sounds like BCBS is the best way to go.

[Grandmatobe]

I COULDN'T AGREE MORE .....I argued with a doctor's office that a person who doesn't have insurance should not have to pay the full amount, but rather, the adjusted amount an insurance company would pay - - - I got a big fat NOOOO.  It ticked me off too.

I just went for a visit with a Cardiologist and he examined me and they did a quick echocardiagram in their office - took 15 minutes.  The insurance company just got billed $1440 for that visit.  Are they serious????  The insurance company only paid like $240 of it and disallowed the rest.  Fortunately, I am not liable for the difference, but if I had been a "cash" patient, I would have been required to pay the difference.

This is why we have insurance problems......Ugh!

[LauraB78]

It's easiest to call the company and get a breakdown of your coverage.

I have BC/BS HMO and it s u c k s. My deductible alone, not including any office visits or anything is $1,000! Dont get me going on insurance.. I will turn red! =)

[kikicoates78]

My Dh Ins. did not consider pregnancy a pre-exsisting condition, I agree with Joy I don't think they could refuse.

Here is what I think is CRAZY after looking at a couple of my bills from the RE, for Ex.

1) Consult ~ 700 bucks, after Ins. adjustment say 430 my Ins. covers 80% (344) So I pay 86 bucks ok no problem  BUT If I didn't have ins. I would of had to pay, 700 not 430! I think they should adjust for people paying cash not for INSURANCE companies! OOOH It makes me so mad ! LOL

I just thought I would vent that. LOL  It's just not fair to people, who can not get insurance. :(

[KM604]

I know I have BCBS of FL and I was told I would have to pay either $600 or $1000 for the hospital stay, depending on the hospital and the doctor would be covered.  But even though I have BCBS and you may also, doesn't mean our plans are the same.  So I would just contact the insurance company whenever you sign up with them and make sure with both insurance's that you have maternity coverage.  

[JoyRenee]

While insurance companies look at pregnancy as a pre-existing condition, it's actually illegal for them to refuse medical coverage. I don't know how to get around that kind of thing.

Each insurance is different too. It depends on your plan. A vaginal delivery is anywhere from $5,000-$12,000 depending on the doctor and hospital. If your insurance covers 50-80% of that then you're left with the rest.

At my doc's office they had someone figure all of that out for us and we were required to pay a few hundred a month by my 7th month of pregnancy to ensure my doc got payment for his services.

[KellyA74]

Also, I would call Blue Cross/Blue Sheild b/c sometimes insurance companies will not cover a "pre-existing" condition...which would include pregnancy being you will already be pregnant when he adds you to his insurance......Just something to look into.

I have Blue Cross/Blue Sheild as well and my co-pay for in patient is $500.  Like Leighanne said, all policies are different.

Good luck....

[leighanne143]

i have blue cross blue shield and mine will be a $250 co-payment but it also depends on what your job contribuites as to what you pay.

[alimomma]

So I pretty much answered my own question by researching posts that women have placed on this website. Since I can not get off my insurance until open enrollment in July 2009 - and I have my baby in May 2009, and we were already going to put me on my fiance's insurance here in a few weeks. . . now I can use my Select Med as my primary insurance and his Blue Cross Blue Shield as my secondary insurance. Then I should be double covered, and according to my coworker, hopefully not have to pay anything out of pocket. Then I can use my Aflac to make money off my pregnancy, which I'm looking forward to :)

Is that pretty much right. . . for all those 'been there done that' moms out there?