It is likely that you know some people who do not have medical or health insurance and they seem to be managing fine; in fact an estimated 41 million Americans are not insured and a significant proportion are actually underinsured. So why is health insurance for pregnant women important to have?
Simply put, the health insurance can ensure pregnant women that they get good and adequate prenatal care. Consider the many expenses that having a baby can entail – there are routine visits to the doctor for checkups periodically through the pregnancy, there are blood tests and routine or specially required screening (if any) that may have to be done.
Routine tests for gestational diabetes, blood pressure and sonograms are also required during pregnancy. If this is not done, it can result in possible pregnancy complications.
The delivery alone, even one with no complications or risks, will cost about 6,000 to 8,000 dollars so obviously health insurance is important for pregnant women. Since many insurance companies consider pregnancy a preexisting condition, it can be difficult to get insurance after a woman is actually pregnant.
What are the insurance options available for pregnant women?
The American Pregnancy Association is a great resource for health insurance for pregnant women, and according to their web site, the following options are available for pregnant women who need health insurance –
Government funded health insurance programs for pregnant women
Medicaid is a program that is funded federally to provide medical aid for lower income families and individuals. Visit the meidcaid website to see what options are available. Depending upon where a woman stays, different states offer different insurance programs for pregnant women.
The Women Infants and Children federal agency also caters to lower income women and kids less than 5 years of age in the form of food supplements and packages, information about proper food intake, breastfeeding promotions and health care referrals and so on.
Whether health insurance for pregnant women is available in your case or not, the following tips can help a woman cut costs and keep pregnancy and childbirth related expenditure in control.
- It is recommended that pregnant women should join the American Pregnancy Association to avail of discounts and access to medical advice.
- There are other discount programs such as AmeriPlan that also offer up to 50% discount and services such as hospital, visits to the doctor, tests, and x-rays and so on.
- Also get in touch with the accounts office of the hospital – they can have payment plans or may offer a sliding scale that pregnant women can take advantage of. Ask around and see what benefits are possible to avail of.
- Consider a home birth or delivering your baby at a birthing center, which can translate into significant savings at the time of delivery, since hospitals are more expensive. You can speak to a midwife who has experience delivering babies at home in this case.
- There are also some tips for single mothers that can help if health insurance for pregnant women is not available for any reason.
