picking insurance *USA ladies*

[Viking15]

Hi ladies,
I am barely pregnant, and up against the clock trying to figure out which insurance plan to pick.
Does anyone remember how much their labor and delivery cost? I know the doctor's bill alone will be around 4500 dollars. My cost after insurance will be 1840. However, this doesn't include the actual hospital charges. Any ideas ladies?
Thanks so much. I have asked the insurance company and they were somewhat helpful, but they can't tell me which one to pick.

 

[Viking15]

No one remembers what their hospital bill was?

 

[Ozzieshunni]

Hun, most of the girls on just now are from the UK. There are some US girls on here too. It might help if you edit your title to include *USA Ladies*

 

[BabySeal]

The insurance covered a rough estimate of 10,000 I think for the hospital delivery. Normal vaginal delivery, 2 night stay.

 

[tinkerbellkj]

I would pick the highest coverage as possible. I know with my plan I pay 20%, they pay 80%, but maxes out at a $2,500.00 deductible. So I ended up paying $2,500.00 and then my son had another deductible to meet, so all in all it wasn't cheap, but certainly better than if I had no insurance! I know if I had picked the 'lower' plan, I would have had to pay 30% or a $4,000.00 deductible, so I'd go with the highest coverage/lowest deductible if I were you.

 

[PAgal]

Didn't want to read and run, being a USA lady, but I have insurance through my employer and it pays everything so I have no idea what the actual bills were. The most common insurance around here is Highmark blue cross/blue shield and I had that when I was paying my own insurance too. I had the high deductible where I paid the first $1200 and everything else after that was mostly covered. But I wasn't pregnant then.

Good luck

 

[tabitha561]

I had a C-section and a 3 night hospital stay my insurance paid for everything..I had a very complicated pregnancy and delivery so yours prob wouldnt be that much. I had 5 doctors in the delivery room. I think I had to pay 600 dollars to the doctor and that was it it.. My whole bill was over 25,000 dollars. BTW I have employee insurance through my husband.. It might be different for you.

 

[Viking15]

Didn't want to read and run, being a USA lady, but I have insurance through my employer and it pays everything so I have no idea what the actual bills were. The most common insurance around here is Highmark blue cross/blue shield and I had that when I was paying my own insurance too. I had the high deductible where I paid the first $1200 and everything else after that was mostly covered. But I wasn't pregnant then.

Good luck

Wow, PAgirl your insurance is amazing! Lucky you!

 

[cheese lover]

I picked the highest coverage I could which was a $250 deductible and 90% paid after that. I paid around $500 total for me (vaginal delivery, assisted, epidural, and 2 night stay) so it must have been around $5000. LO was way more out of pocket. We put her on DH's insurance initially since I wasn't up to working on health insurance at the time and his deductible was $500 so her bill was over $750 because she had to have antibiotics and several blood tests. So before insurance her bill was probably around $3000.

 

[Viking15]

I'm still having a very hard time deciding. Any ideas? These are the two best options.

Option One:
Higher premium (approximately 40% more per paycheck)
Lower Deductible 2,000 until delivery then 3000 when adding the child to the plan
After deductible met costs covered at 80%
Prescription co-pays in tiers

Option Two:
Lower premium
Higher Deductible 3,500 until delivery then 4500 when adding the child to the plan
After deductible met costs covered at 90%
No Prescription coverage until the deductible is met

My husband and I chose the option two last night but I am second-guessing now.

 

[brunette&bubs]

We have insurance through my husbands employer...so its all paid for and we had reached our deductible before getting pregnant.

I never actually looked at my bills but I know labor and delivery isn't cheap!

BTW.... we have BC/BS of Nebraska

 

[Viking15]

bump

 

[feedindy]

My Dh has a government job, and we have Blue Cross Blue Shield Basic through his employer.
I had a vaginal delivery and 2 night stay.
For all prenatal care (doctors visits, ultrasounds, lab work) I paid a total of $90 (3 copays $30 each)
For birth the hospital bill showed $29,032. But it was all covered and I paid $150 copay.

So in the end I paid $240 total from beginning to end.

Monthly cost of insurance taken out of paycheck to cover all of us is $240. Work covers 50%.

 

[Dancerforlife]

I agree with the posters saying get the best you can. I found out I was pregnant a month after open enrollment so couldn't change it and had gone with the second best. Kicked myself the whole time as the best covered EVERYTHING.

My hospital billed the insurance company 10,300 for the delivery and the doctor billed insurance 1850 separately for the delivery. Between the two after insurance we paid 480. Also was billed separately for the epidural which I can't remember what they billed the insurance company but we paid around 150 after insurance. We have Aetna with a 100 dollar deductible and 10/90 coverage.

 

[angel2010]

I had Blue Cross Blue Shield from Walmart and the plans they offered were crap. I ended up paying around $5000 for induction leading to emcs, including doctor visits. I would def go with the best possible option.

 

[lisaf]

Mine had a low deductible, but then had 90% coverage with a max out-of-pocket.
Since we ended up with a NICU stay, we pretty much paid the max out of pocket for both me and the baby. $4k total

 

[Viking15]

Thanks for all the replies ladies. Unfortunately my insurance plans aren't nearly as nice as some of yours! I think we will stick with option two. We end up paying more upfront, but after the deductible is met ( and I'm sure it will be this year) we end up paying less overall. Thank goodness for money in my savings acct!

 

[TattiesMum]

I and many others moan constantly about our country, but you girls have just made me very grateful that I live in the UK

 

[lisaf]

Oh, I forgot... I had a long labor, pitocin, antibiotics for Group B strep, phentinol and eventually an epidural.
My hospital bill was $38,000 with another $1500 for the epidural
My son's 2 day NICU stay where all he had was a saline IV and a few ex-rays was $15,000