How to Avoid Maternity Insurance Mayhem

The birth of a child should be a time of enjoyment and celebration, one that should not be interrupted with unpleasant surprises regarding the payment of medical bills. Maternity insurance with excellent benefits will go a long way towards helping with the financial aspects of preparing for baby. If at all possible, it's a wonderful idea to have maternity health insurance coverage in place before the test results come back positive.

You may say at this point that you are on a group plan at work, so there should not be any problems. That's super, but I would encourage you to dig the policy out of the filing cabinet and take a look to see to what degree pregnancy is covered under your plan just to be safe. If the phrasing and terminology contained in your policy has your mind spinning, have the insurance clerk at your place of employment go over the portion of the policy that deals with pregnancy and explain it to you in words that you can understand.

IN NETWORK or OUT of NETWORK PROVIDERS

Before choosing a provider, check the names of in network providers listed in the latest directory provided by your insurance company. There are big benefits in choosing a doctor and hospital that are in the network. If there is a network provider that you feel will work for you, the portion of the medical bills that you have to pay out of your pocket may be substantially less than if you choose an out of network provider.

Make certain that the directory of providers is up to date because doctors and hospitals are constantly being picked up by and dropped from insurance lists all the time. As a final precaution, when you decide on a hospital and provider, call each one as well as your insurance company and verify that they are in-network and that they will accept your insurance.

Another helpful bit of information that you may want to document is the date that your chosen provider's contract expires with your insurance company. The insurance clerk at the doctor's office or hospital may not have these dates in her files, but don't let this stop you from getting the facts. To get this vital information, a phone call to your insurance company may be necessary.

Compare the contract expiration dates that your insurance company provides to you with your baby's expected delivery date. If the contract date of expiration falls before your due date, this is an indication that you may need to explore other service providers in the network because there is no guarantee that this provider's contract will be renewed. It would be an unwelcome financial surprise to start out with an in-network provider only to find yourself out of network when it counts the most!