Individual Health Insurance w/ Maternity Coverage?
Hi I am in need of Individual Health Insurance with Maternity Coverage, but not with Anthem BCBS. Do you know of a company that provides what I am looking for? I know there is a 6-month Maternity waiting period, and I’m fine with that. I make too much money to qualify for Medicaid or state/discounted health insurance, so I know I will have to pay for it myself, but I’m having a hard time finding a policy with Maternity Coverage.
I am NOT pregnant already, just trying to plan ahead.
i wish i could help you. a lot of companies wont except you if you are already pregnant cause they consider it a pre existing condition. good luck and i hope you find something
once again…not a mind reader
Filed under Health Insurance by on Sep 6th, 2010. Comment. 
The Senate version of the recently enacted health care reform does not provide any obvious, direct relief for couples looking for infertility health insurance coverage. Upon closer inspection there are areas where our friends in Washington have taken away, and places that show a glimmer of hope. Much will change over time as more details begin to emerge. Take a look at what can be learned from a high level overview of the bill.
I was interested to see what help the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act” offered, if any, to couples facing infertility. One can learn very interesting things by downloading the 2,409 page PDF document available online. Adobe Acrobat provides a handy word search feature that allows us to quickly see what, if anything was done to address the needs of couples trying to conceive.
So I typed in a number of keyword phrases, and got the following results: Infertility: 0, IVF: 0, Fertility: 0, In Vitro Fertilization: 0, Assistive Reproduction Technology: 0
Okay so it seems that the new law does not provide any obvious direct help for couple trying to conceive. Is there indirect help? Let’s try typing in “pregnancy” as see what comes up. We find twenty one entries; now we may be onto something! The entries break down to these categories:
- Establishment of a pregnancy assistance fund to help pregnant and parenting college students.
- “A sense of Congress” to study the mental health consequences of women “resolving” pregnancy.
- Funding tied to state-established goals to reduce teen pregnancy rates.
- Personal responsibility programs designed to educate adolescents on abstinence, contraception, and sexually transmitted diseases.
- Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) as it relates to oral healthcare.
- Removal of cost share for counseling and pharmacotherapy for cessation of tobacco use by pregnant women.
It seems we are out of luck once again. Funding and attention are allocated to preventing pregnancy, and keeping already pregnant women healthy, but nothing about helping get people pregnant.
Flexible Spending Accounts can be very useful for infertile couples. Pre-taxing helps lower costs for the very high level of unreimbursed medical expenses associated with infertility treatments. Let’s see if the bill provides any help in this area? The news is not good. Health Care Flexible Spending Accounts contribution limits have been capped at $2,500 for any plans with tax year’s beginning after December 31, 2010. It still makes sense to utilize your FSA to keep costs low, but a $2,500 limit does not make much of a dent in a $15,000 IVF payment.
Let’s not give up yet. There are those state run health exchanges to examine. Their principle purpose is to provide some level of coverage for individuals with pre-existing conditions. The funds by nature lose money for the states that currently run such programs; which means your benefit may exceed your premium. Each state is given some level of flexibility it how it will set up and run its exchange. Perhaps there may be something for infertility hidden amongst these exchanges.
And then there is prescription drugs: 136 mentions, and a few that aren’t related to Medicare (the program for people over age 65). Perhaps we can explore these topics in another article. Stay tuned.
Find out more about how to leverage infertility health insurance to cut costs, and indirectly fund infertility treatments.
Kevin Haney is a licensed health insurance agent helping growing families generate maternity leave income, and protection just in case by using supplemental family health insurance benefits.
Filed under Health Insurance by on Sep 6th, 2010. Comment.
Health insurance is defined as “a form of collectivism by means of which people collectively pool their risk, in this case the risk of incurring medical expenses”. In simple term, it is a contract between an insurance company and an individual. Let’s look at 10 things you should know about the development in health insurance.
1. This concept was proposed by the Elder Chamberlen from the Peter Chamberlen family in 1694. They are famous for inventing the modern use of obstetrical forceps. In 1694, Hugh the Elder Chamberlen published a book advocating health insurance.
2. In the 19th century, “accident insurance” which is quite similar to disability insurance began to be introduced in United States by the Franklin Health Assurance Company of Massachusetts which was founded in 1850. The plan covered injuries arising from railroad and steamboat accidents.
3. Traditional disability insurance evolved into modern health insurance programs during the middle to late 20th century.
4. Patients were expected to pay all other health care costs at their own expense before the development of medical expense insurance.
5. Blue Cross organisations were developed in 1929 by Justin Ford Kimball. Blue Cross is a name used by an association of health insurance plans throughout the United States. The first plan guaranteed teachers at Baylor University in Dallas, Texas, 21 days of hospital care for $6 a year. This plan was then introduced to other employee groups in Dallas and then nationally.
6. In 1939, the Blue Cross Symbol was adopted by the American Hospital Association as the emblem for plans meeting certain standards. The Blue Cross Association superseded the American Hospital Association in 1960.
7. Today there are hundreds of insurance companies offering not only medical but also dental plan.
8. In the United States, study found that 62 percent of all bankruptcies filed in 2007 were linked to medical expenses.
9. On 11th August 2009, US President Barack Obama said “”Nearly 46 million Americans don’t have health insurance coverage today.” He further said that it is vulnerable to those uninsured as if something happens, they go bankrupt, or they don’t get the care they need.
10. U.S. News named Fallon Community Health Plan, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts, Tufts Associated Health Maintenance Organisation, Preferred Care and Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of the Northwest as the Top 5 Best Medicare Plans for the Year 2009/2010.
For more information about individual health insurance and affordable health insurance, visit CommonHealthInsuranceFacts.com
Filed under Health Insurance by on Sep 5th, 2010. Comment.