Health Insurance Stress :(

[zoe2010]

Hey ladies I am hoping I can get some input from a few of you. My husband and I were waiting to try until this summer, but now we are even wondering if we can afford it. We are both 30 and feel like now would be the right time. We are uninsured only because health insurance is ridiculously expensive for us. We do fairly well financially, but we kind of got a rude awakening last week. I recently had to have an ultrasound, and some blood work done because they thought I may have some cysts. We got the bill the other day and it was a whopping $2,000! Until now we honestly thought it was going to be cheaper for us to not have insurance because the most affordable policy we could find the last time we looked into it was about $500 per month with a $10,000 deductible. So now we are a little freaked out because if it is going to cost that much every time we go for an ultrasound, there will be no way we could afford to have a baby. I called our insurance agent today to see if we could setup a meeting to find out what might be out there that could be affordable for us, and he told me we wouldn't be able to sign up until November. I live in NC and there is something called pregnancy medicaid, but I don't know if I would qualify for it, and of course you can't even apply unless you are pregnant. I'm just at a loss of what to do. If you guys could send me some prayers and positive thoughts, I would greatly appreciate it, because I'm about to give up on my dream of becoming a mom

 

[MissYogi]

Don't give up hope! I'm so sorry about the stress you are having, that's such a bummer about the ultrasound cost!

I'm not in the states but I feel that 500$ per month is a lot. Have you shopped around a bit? Maybe there is a more affordable option through one of your jobs, or I know that here in Canada you can often bundle a few types of insurance and it gets cheaper (home, car, life, etc.)

 

[krissie328]

Insurance is ridiculously priced! Possibly look into switching jobs to get better insurance?

My pregnancy with ds was fairly uncomplicated with just a little extra monitoring due to diabetes. In the end it was almost 30k for prenatal and delivery. My hospital did offer us assistance because we didn't have a lot of money at the time. I believe I paid about 3k in the end.

But keep in mind my sister had a premature baby. His hospital bills were close to 600k. Because of her insurance she ended up paying 6k.

Pregnancy medicaid income redistrictions can usually be found on your state's health and welfare page.

 

[zoe2010]

Thanks for the reply ladies. My husband and I own our own business, and I work for him, so unfortunately finding another job is not an option. We actually have a meeting with our health insurance agent the week to find out what we need to do. We may not be able to try until November now because unfortunately you cannot sign up until then I'm just so bummed.

 

[krissie328]

Also, make sure to ask if there are any restrictions like do you have to be insured for so long before getting pregnant.

 

[icegurl470]

My sister didn't have insurance when she got pregnant but she qualified for like a government assistance health care once she got pregnant and they continue to cover the baby once they're born, so I wouldn't let that stop you. Although, I would look into getting health insurance for yourself and your husband in the future. Anything can happen at anytime and it's truly ridiculous what they charge, you would probably go into debt for the rest of your life if say your appendix burst tomorrow. I was dx with melanoma T1B at the age of 23 and a simple wide excision of the tumor and lymph node biopsy was 10's of thousands of dollars! Luckily I had insurance because obviously something like that had to be taken care of.

 

[jessmke]

I have no advice as I am in Canada and our universal health care covers all costs involved with having a baby, but I just wanted to send you a virtual hug. I can't imagine having to worry about the expense of birth when deciding to have a baby.

 

[arturia]

Unfortunately this is why I would opt out of parenthood if I lived in the US. I can't even imagine swallowing the cost of IVF (which is not free in my province and runs $15k-$25k) much less paying for all the care involved in a pregnancy.

I can't offer much more than hugs and the hope that your insurance agent can find a plan that works for you.

 

[Kiwiberry]

Pregnancy Medicaid honestly sounds like your best option. Just start trying and once you get pregnant apply for it. Medicaid is actually a really good insurance. You would probably qualify for a free breast pump with insurance as well if you decide to breastfeed.

 

[zoe2010]

Thanks ladies Your responses really help. We have decided to wait until November or December to start trying. We are actually ok with it. God has a bigger plan and if we have to wait than it's ok. We've decided that if we accidentally get pregnant between now and then we would of course apply for the pregnancy medicaid and if we don't get that, then for the first few months take advantage of the free clinic here in town. Once January 1st hits our insurance would kick in.