As unemployment soars in America, its effect on health coverage for pregnant women has created a worrying trend.
Discovering that you are expectant mother or expecting a baby should be a time of joy and excitement but more women are now facing an uncertain nine months.
More women have to find their own maternity coverage and often once you are actually pregnant, the options are extremely limited.
Not all pregnancies are intricately planned, even with the best of intentions accidents do happen.
The difference between the plans provided by employers, to those sought by an individual can be complex for the layman.
There is a state Medicaid program for the lowest income brackets but a lot of women are falling through the net. With the average cost of having a baby in hospital being well over $ 7,000, with that sum rising sharply with any complications, a lot of medical insurance companies are charging exorbitant rates.
Certain companies are refusing to even offer maternity coverage, resulting in potential state intervention in the matter.
States like California, are debating whether to introduce laws forcing companies to offer more comprehensive cover in this area. The insurers are fiercely opposed to state interference and insist that intervention will produce a sharp rise in premiums. In the current economic climate this would lead to wide spread hardship.
The Federal Civil Rights Act means that every employer with over fifteen workers must offer health insurance that includes maternity services. Strangely, this stipulation is not carried over to the insurance market place when accessed by an individual.
