Insurance with maternity coverage

[Gonga]

Hi,

I came into the US on K1 (fiancee visa). We married 10 days before my K1 status expired, still within the frame of 90 days which is the condition for the fiancee visa. Five days after my status expired we filed I-130 and I-485 AOS at the same time. At this moment we are waiting for USCIS to confirm the acceptance of our Petition (I-130) and Adjustment of Status (I-485).

My husband, a US citizen, is a self employed and has US insurance. We are living in Connecticut. At the moment I do not have my social security yet but am expecting to get one soon. I am 32 and my husband is 49 years old. Currently I am not pregnant but we would like to search our options and get a health insurance with maternity/pregnancy coverage included. Could you please advise which plan should we sign up for or which insurance company to go with? Should we be looking for individual plans or should I be registered under my husband's insurance plan as a family? What are our options? Also I would like to know what would be the expenses in case I get pregnant without being covered? Could you please be specific in terms of costs?

Thanks in advance for your help and time.
With regards.

[txh1b]

Most individual plans have a waiting period of 11-12 months before one can get coverage for pregnancy. You need to get maternity coverage and wait for the plan's prescribed period before getting the coverage.

[Gonga]

Thank you for your reply.
Could you please advise what companies offer maternity health insurance? Thank you.

[insubuy]

Thanks to the recent changes in the healthcare laws, no company that I am aware of covers maternity for individual or family health insurance, even after a waiting period.

Please visit Individual Medical Insurance and you will see that there are two companies available in CT, Aetna and Assurant Health and none of them cover maternity.

[txh1b]

I know of a plan from BCBS IL (Select Blue) plan that offers coverage for maternity after a waiting period of 365 days.

You can customize any SelectBlue plan with add-on coverage and insurance.

Optional Maternity Coverage

Covers inpatient and outpatient hospital services
Includes coverage for medical and surgical services
Maternity benefits begin 365 days after the effective date of the maternity coverage

[insubuy]

But she is in CT.

[txh1b]

Oops...I did not pay attention to the fact that OP lived in CT.

I don't live in IL and have BCBS IL plan. Don't know how it works with BCBS as they have different states covered by different companies. BCBS Anthem also has some individual plans that covers maternity.

Connecticare Solo already implemented the new health care reform on some of their plans and HMO plan Group 4 offers maternity coverage but is a high deductible plan with 5k deductible.

http://www.connecticare.com/SOLO/solo-plan-group-4.aspx

[Gonga]

Thanks for the information provided.
Does anyone know what would be the cost for delivering and having a baby without having any insurance coverage? Or please advise where to look for this kind of updated information. Many thanks.
Regards.

[txh1b]

It really depends on what could possibly happen during birth. With insurance, hospitals and doctors have to provide a discount that matters the most in reducing the out of pocket costs.

For an uncomplicated normal delivery requiring a 2 day hospital stay, cost could be between 10-15k. The doctor that delivers will charge another 3k for normal delivery.

Costs will be significantly higher for a C section. You can almost double the expenses.

[insubuy]

And if there are complications with new born, the expenses could run into $100,000 or more.

[Gonga]

Wow. Extremely expensive.

Thanks a lot for your replies. We will have to check our option then.

When checking our possibilities with my husband's insurance company we were told to get an individual plan for me with maternity coverage - the best and cheapest way to go. It would cost us $686 which is still way too expensive option. I would assume having more people insured under one insurance plan would get better pricing as well, but obviously and unfortunately it doesn't work this way.
I was hoping someone would suggest some other plan for CT which is less expensive & more reasonable... I am not giving up...
Thanks and regards.

[txh1b]

The pricing is inline with many plans. However, you can only get a better pricing if you are able to get on a group plan. There are times when individuals can get under a group plan offered by the local union or things like that. Investigate such options.

[Gonga]

Any particular local union in mind? Just to be more specific. Thanks.

[txh1b]

You have to dig into those details. Nase.org or chamber of commerce etc.

Google for group health insurance for self employed and check out.

[Gonga]

Thanks. I definitely will. Just wasn't sure what you meant as the system from the country I come from is totally different. Have a nice day