TTC while uninsured

[Anonymous]

I am self-employed and uninsured. I will be covered under DHs plan in January but we have begun TTC the old fashioned way in the meantime. We have never considered birthing in a hospital and expect to pay cash to a midwife or birthing center. I fully understand that costs could be astronomical if something were to go wrong. Aside from that, has anyone gone through pregnancy uninsured or have advice?

[Anonymous]

If you get pregnant today you'll still be covered by your husbands insurance when it is time for the birth. Check the policy to see if it will cover your pregnancy if you are pregnant when you are added to the policy.

I think the entire OB cost of a normal delivery was between 6 and 8k. In addition to that, there was the room cost at the hospital etc. I doubt a midwife birthing center is much less.

Also, if the child is eligable for immediate coverage upon birth, then I assume any NICU costs for a premature birth or complications would be covered regardless of your insurance status.

[Anonymous]

PP here. But, unless you are over 40, I'd probably recommend that you not start trying until you are insured.

[Anonymous]

Truthfully you might want to wait until at least Nov/Dec then. Unless you are over 40 and this is a time issue. I understand that you feel like you want to desperately want to get a rush on it but if god forbid something happens to go wrong you could be in for a lot of medical costs. Sure you assume that you will be fine working with a midwife or birthing center but really there is no way to predict that that is the case. Not trying to scare you just being more realistic.

I would chart religiously from now until then so when it comes that time you know when you are ovulating and it will be a (hopefully) speedy process come the fall.

[Anonymous]

not to be negative but if you were to miscarry and need a D&C (happened to me, unfortunately, so i know it well) the costs can be HUGE. surgery, even outpatient, is not cheap. we paid over $1000 because my plan had a deductible for hospital procedures without overnight stays - and that's with very good insurance. without it it'd have been 10x that, easily.

and what about prenatal care? OB visits, sonograms etc?

[Anonymous]

I think a midwife is around 5k.

[Anonymous]

Something that god forbid you never have to worry about: at the 20 wk scan I found out my baby was severely affected by a skeletal dysplasia and we terminated. termination for me was 2 days in the hospital and the bill would probably be around $9K if we paid out of pocket. what my baby had was rare, but many birth defects are fairly common and some are incompatible with life.

[Anonymous]

could you buy a short-term, non-renewable policy that would last for 6 months and includes maternity care?

[Anonymous]

Please, regardless of the cost, consider getting at least a basic, high-deductible policy for the time period from now until January. And please, consider having your husband do the same.

I speak from experience: I'm in my 20s and thought I was in perfect health, but ended up having what would have been nearly $200,000 in medical costs this past year. (You'd never know it to look at me, and it was nothing I could have expected from genetics or anything like that.)

If I hadn't been insured- not only would I have had to come up with (or take on debt for) that $200k, I would have also been uninsurable for the future.