Do any individual or family insurance plans offer decent maternity coverage?
This report has information about consumer-driven health plans and maternity care – and might give you an idea of things to look for (and avoid) in a plan (e.g. – if the pregnancy covers 2 plan years, you might have to pay 2 years of deductibles; some plans don’t won’t count maternity care check-ups towards the deductible, etc.). There’s also some discussion of HMOs and PPOs, but all in a general sort of way.
I should clarify that, you may have a preexisting condition, clause if you didn’t have insurance but on group policies, maternity is not considered a preexisting. Also, I’ve seen women get a job through an employer who offers health insurance, get pregnant, have the baby and then quit. It happens more than you might expect. Not saying that this is a bad thing, but it happens.
It is extremely difficult to find individual policies that do not exclude maternity for at least 12 months after the policy is written–and typically these policies are not equivalent to the group policies that larger businesses buy for their employees. You need a good agent who can walk you through this. There are a lot of agents who specialize in helping small businesses find the best deal. Seek one out.
Quick note: I am indeed aware that most policies have a 12-24 month period that is excluded at first. So that’s something we realize we’ll have to keep in mind. I’m not so much looking for a specific “plan” that we could be pointed to but rather some leads to some different insurance companies that might have something for maternity coverage.
One thing you might keep in mind with buying your own insurance…the concept of pre-existing condition. Do not be pregnant at the time of underwriting. Honest. Many insurers will see that as pre-existing and throw a rider in your contract for pregnancy…basically either disallowing maternity coverage altogether, or tacking-on an addition grand to your deductible, or shifting pregnancy to a separate deductible schedule, etc.
