When Your Wife Is Pregnant, Are There Health Care Costs That Your Health Insurance Provider Does Not Cover?

[Wynward]

I currently have Aetna and wanted to know if there typically are special costs as it relates to giving birth or treatments related to pregnancy that your health insurance will not cover. Thanks in advance!

[Arvon]

It definitely depends on what type of coverage you have, but having our son--including all the visits to the doc during pregnancy, lab tests during pregnancy, and birth--only cost a $15 copay. HOWEVER, you can make choices that will increase how much you pay. These include the following:Supplemental newborn screenings(we actually did this and it cost us $35)--this is an additional blood test done soon after the baby is born. Drugs during birth--I tried a natural birth, which would have cost nothing. But after 18 hours of contractions 2 minutes apart, I chose to have an epidural. I think this had a minimal cost associated to it for me--you'll need to check with your insurance company to see. A C-section costs slightly more--the hospital actually gave us a break-down when I was about 20 weeks pregnant that showed how much a vaginal birth versus a C-section costs. All in all, I think we paid less than $100 for my son! :) What a deal!

[Heathcliff]

We could have had our son for the low, low cost of $15! :) It definitely depends on what type of coverage you have, but having our son--including all the visits to the doc during pregnancy, lab tests during pregnancy, and birth--only cost a $15 copay. HOWEVER, you can make choices that will increase how much you pay. These include the following:Supplemental newborn screenings(we actually did this and it cost us $35)--this is an additional blood test done soon after the baby is born. Drugs during birth--I tried a natural birth, which would have cost nothing. But after 18 hours of contractions 2 minutes apart, I chose to have an epidural. I think this had a minimal cost associated to it for me--you'll need to check with your insurance company to see. A C-section costs slightly more--the hospital actually gave us a break-down when I was about 20 weeks pregnant that showed how much a vaginal birth versus a C-section costs. All in all, I think we paid less than $100 for my son! :) What a deal! momandreader 92 months ago Please sign in to give a compliment. Please verify your account to give a compliment. Please sign in to send a message. Please verify your account to send a message.

[Dickie]

This will vary from policy to policy. In general, pregnancy and complications of pregnancy are covered. Voluntary termination is usually not. Keepsake sonograms are usually not covered, either. And you may have to pay for two days of hospitalization at the time of delivery. But as I said, in general most of the regular costs of pregnancy are covered.But you need to check your policy to be sure. The best thing to do is to make sure pregnancy costs are covered *before* she gets pregnant. If it's too late, and you find your current policy doesn't cover everything, you can switch insurance. Under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, a pregnancy is not considered a pre-existing condition, which means switching plans while pregnant should not be a problem. Good luck!!