Delivering a baby can be an expensive proposition with or without insurance. Having maternity coverage can help pay the bills that come with having a baby. Even if you have regular health insurance, you may or may not be covered by maternity coverage. This is a feature of an insurance policy that will cover pregnancy costs, but it does not come with all insurance policies.
Group Insurance Plans
If you are covered through a group health insurance plan, you will likely receive maternity coverage as part of your plan. With this type of insurance, you do not have to pay any additional fees to make sure that you have maternity coverage. It is included as part of your group medical plan. You generally only have to meet your annual deductible and then pay a percentage of covered costs up to a certain limit. Beyond that, the insurance company will pay for other charges.
Maternity Riders
If you have an individual health insurance plan, you most likely are not covered for maternity costs. The only way to obtain maternity coverage in this situation is to add a rider onto the plan. A rider is an optional type of coverage that you can elect to purchase. With this rider, you typically have to wait for a certain amount of time after you start paying for it before you can get pregnant. If you get pregnant before the rider kicks in, the coverage will not provide benefits.
Complications
Even if you do not have maternity coverage on your insurance policy, it does not necessarily mean that your insurance company will not help at all if you have a baby. Most insurance plans will cover complications from pregnancy even if they do not cover the delivery itself. This means that if a woman experiences trouble during child birth and the hospital has to keep her longer than the normal amount of time, the insurance could pay for some of the bill.
Health Care Reform
The health care reform law has put more emphasis on insurance companies providing maternity coverage. If a company plans on selling insurance through the state insurance exchanges that will be created under this legislation, it has to provide maternity coverage to those it insures. Maternity coverage is considered to be an essential form of coverage under these laws and anyone who picks up a policy from one of these companies will be able to have a baby without having to worry about if the costs are covered.
