Anonymous wrote:I don't know. CIGNA offers services like these for pregnancy and for complex health conditions. I use it for my diabetes and I find it very helpful. Yes, in part it's about the health insurer saving money--a compliant diabetic is a cheaper diabetic--but it's been really helpful to me also.

Does your average DCUM, educated, relatively wealthy mother need it for pregnancy? Probably not. But I bet it does help lots of people.

Same. BCBS has it for diabetes and I talk to them. They already know I'm diabetic, talking to someone isn't going to be a problem for coverage or denial of service or whatever.

BCBS Nurse manager has been calling me once a month checking on my status and spending maybe 10 minutes on the phone with me. Check your BCBS claims, I just noticed they have been billing the insurance BCBS $560 per month under the description of OPTUM. Wish I was making $560 per month for a 10 minute call. They implied this was a free service provided by BCBS. Well somebody is paying for this. Sounds fraudulent to me, but who am I to judge?

This was service offered with my first but after a few phone sessions I did begin to think it was more for their benefit than mine so I stopped. DH had a long hospital stay and when he came home we were again contacted by a case manager. She actually solved an insurance-related medication problem for him so it can be beneficial.

you'all crazy

im not a dc mom..but i had my bcbsof il call with case manager today..started asking questions that i didnt think they needed..im sure its to benefit one side of the equation....them...i tried to be as vague as possible..but their indirect questions were probably already answered....ill see where this goes in the next few months..and i'll try to follow up here too....

Anonymous wrote:I don't know. CIGNA offers services like these for pregnancy and for complex health conditions. I use it for my diabetes and I find it very helpful. Yes, in part it's about the health insurer saving money--a compliant diabetic is a cheaper diabetic--but it's been really helpful to me also.

Does your average DCUM, educated, relatively wealthy mother need it for pregnancy? Probably not. But I bet it does help lots of people.

Yes, I agree. I think overall it's a good service to have. I don't think they'd use it to deny services. But I think it ends up saving them money because they can catch issues early.

I don't know. CIGNA offers services like these for pregnancy and for complex health conditions. I use it for my diabetes and I find it very helpful. Yes, in part it's about the health insurer saving money--a compliant diabetic is a cheaper diabetic--but it's been really helpful to me also.

Does your average DCUM, educated, relatively wealthy mother need it for pregnancy? Probably not. But I bet it does help lots of people.

Bcbs ppo here and haven't gotten that call w any pregnancies. But I don't answer my phone or give out info like that on the phone.

They called me and their first question was "What's your SSN?" I was like "You called me, I am not telling you that." She got very huffy. I would be very cautious giving out my private health information to someone who called me.

Yes they say they are there to support you and have a hotline to call but i think it's a way to question you about the pregnancy to see if you are high risk or have issues so they can deny claims or say you have a preexisiting condition or something later! Be careful!!!

I have BCBS PPO and never got that call with my last pregnancy (2009-10) or my current pregnancy.

I have BCBS. Thanks for the warning, I'll avoid their calls if I get them!

Aetna does the same thing! I did not give them any information!

I haven't heard anything from my insurance during my pregnancy thus far - but my wife had a traumatic brain injury (from a softball, no less, but that's another story) a year and a half ago. Around the time that she came home from the hospital, 3 weeks after the injury, we heard from a case manager from her insurance company. We were also suspicious, but mentioned that we were having trouble convincing the insurance company that speech pathology services were for more than just inability to form words. The case manager got right on it, and helped my wife get approved for speech pathology assessment/services. So I absolutely understand the reticence - we felt the same way - but the case managers might actually be trying to help make sure you're getting properly coordinated care to avoid potential complications down the road.

United Healthcare does this, too...they're trying to promote some special pregnancy hotline/etc. to provide extra prenatal and 12 months of post-natal support. But I never used it last time so I won't be answering their question this time, either.