Underinsured w/ Baby on the way

[Elghazi2008 4]

Having a healthy baby is a priority. If you are still a NY resident, try to get PCAP (Prenatal Care Assistance Program). Here is the link.

https://www.emedny.o...icy_Section.pdf

Good luck to you!

Do you happen to have another link for this?

[Glyn and Kathy 288]

My husband and I had hoped that before we ended up with a baby, we'd be a little more settled... I was on b/c for regulatory issues and my doctors had told me that I would probably need assistance getting pregnant... Believe me, planning didn't take in part in this :-) BUT, we are excited and getting as ready as we can...

I didn't even think to say....congratulations on the baby. All babies are a blessing, planned or not. AND, you can NEVER be ready for a baby...no matter how hard you try!

[rlogan 2,036]

Easy for people without the same budget constraint to argue taking food out of the mouths of children to pay for something not necessary - accuse you of murdering them by Russian Roulette if you don't spend their food money on something they don't need. As if food, shelter, clothing, etc. not to mention saving money for the future were not priorities too. This is a rapaciously profit-driven industry and you have to be alert in avoiding their relentless overkill on expensive services.

Our birthing center costs a fraction of the hospital, and it is a couple of blocks away, no big deal for going to an operating room at the hospital if you have to. Same thing with home birth for a lot of people with midwives, but we lived an hour from the hospital out in the woods so home birth was not an option for us. Filipinas are small compared to Americans so ceasarians are more common and that dictated what we did in the end. But the whole prenatal overkill - sheesh. Learn and study on your own good prenatal habits like vitamins, etc. instead of just blindly putting yourself in the hands of the prenatal profit predators. We also learned about direct testing where instead of first going to a doctor and getting a referral to the lab and then once again visiting the doctor to have him read the result to you - there are online places to get the same tests ordered and sent directly to you, with counseling at a fraction of the cost, and with real privacy unlike the hospitals. You avoid two office visit charges by direct testing. We fired our first OB/BYN people because they refused to refer us to the lab for tests unless we did absolutely everything they ordered us to do. Extortion, basically. Treating us like stupid cows. Don't ask questions. So we said fine then, you are fired and these tests you are threatening to withold from us will be done at the very same lab without your permission.

Go to the local public assistance office in your area. Guaranteed there's one nearby - look in the state offices phone directory. They are there to do just that - assist you. They are going to look at your income and monthly expenses to see if you qualify. Your state will have some kind of medicaid funded program. It might not be called medicaid, but it is funded by medicaid. If you do not qualify for something you are going to need to get cracking on taking charge of this thing and being smart about what you spend money on. Some hospitals have debt forgiveness programs or sliding scale fees or at a minimum an installment program. Call them. The business office will be the place to ask.

Good luck and yea - be smart about the money you need for this baby's welfare. After they are born you can get immunizations at the public health centers for free, or pay a doctor to charge you for the lab referral and then a second one to read the outcome to you.

[Ippsy Pippsy 31]

If you end up in a hospital, insist that you don't want a C-section. Have someone else there when the time comes to back it up. They have apparently become more common lately. More expensive too... And they are more likely to happen when it is time to change shifts...

[monkey426 1]

I used to be on visajourney all the time when I was in the earlier stages of the immigration process, but it's been a while and I am feeling extremely lost now that I've been out of the immigration loop for so long. I am sure this is in the wrong forum, but I'm not sure which forum to put this in, so I apologize ahead of time to the admin who has to move this.

Background: My husband is currently a 2-year Green Card holder and we will be adjusting status later on this year (I think his card expires in November but I need to check to be sure). We are expecting a baby in September, but we may have a little one coming into our lives as soon as August. I was/am my husband's sponsor in the process of obtaining his 2-year green card. I am a full-time college student and I work full-time as a Paralegal but my employer refuses to offer insurance because he's cheap. My husband works a regular part-time job and he is now able to get insurance through work for our family effective in January. I am currently covered under my dad's insurance because I'm also a full-time student, but the insurance does not cover my husband, my pregnancy nor will it cover my baby when he/she comes.

The situation: I am trying to explore my options as far as assistance that I can look into for between now and January when my husband's insurance will kick in. Since I have no coverage from my dad's insurance for my pregnancy, all of the medical expenses for me and the baby are coming directly out of pocket and it is making things extremely difficult. I don't know if I'm even eligible to apply for medicaid/medicare for me and/or the baby because of my husband's immigration status being obtained with me as his sponsor. I assume that I could apply for assistance for the baby, but I'm not sure about applying for it for myself... Does anybody happen to be familiar with this? I thought I had read somewhere during AOS that neither the sponsor nor the dependent could apply for public assistance of any kind without jeopardizing the status of the noncitizen... Any solid suggestions would be wonderful.

Thanks,

[/quot

You should apply for medicaid and wic..your husbands legal status is irrelevant to that process.

[K and L 27]

Costs before insurance coverage for the hospital birth of Mini-Bone earlier this year, by planned and uncomplicated C-section, were approximately $15,500. That was for mother and (healthy) baby. Count on routine and unexpected medical costs for both thereafter.

I don't remember if my friends' births were uncomplicated or their c-sections unplanned, but they both were charged over $40k for their C-sections.

[rika60607 215]

Sometimes C-sections are medically necessary... for a big baby or a breached baby.

If you end up in a hospital, insist that you don't want a C-section. Have someone else there when the time comes to back it up. They have apparently become more common lately. More expensive too... And they are more likely to happen when it is time to change shifts...

[rika60607 215]

That was an outrageous price... may be because you are in NYC. May be it may be worth shopping around and even flying out somewhere for a cheaper service - since you pay cash anyway?

*I had to go see a specialist to check my fluid level... One ultrasound was $2,600+... Unfortunately, that specialist doesn't work with ANY insurances, regardless....*

[Ippsy Pippsy 31]

Sometimes C-sections are medically necessary... for a big baby or a breached baby.

Sometimes. But the number of them has gone up quite a bit recently, and not because of medical necessity.

OP: ask hospitals what % of their births are by C-section, they should have stats

[N M 96]

I don't remember if my friends' births were uncomplicated or their c-sections unplanned, but they both were charged over $40k for their C-sections.

I don't feel so bad now! Our baby was born by c-section in January (Fort Collins, CO), and our total bill was only $24,950. That was just from the point we entered the hospital, to when we went home (4 days later). So it didn't include any of the pre-natal care, ultra sounds etc.

[Elghazi2008 4]

I was rereading the posts on here and thought I'd share my experience with everybody.

1) I DID apply for medicaid and was approved. It has NOT created any issues with my husband's immigration status and it has helped eliminate a good portion of my medical bills related to pregnancy.

2) No, I was not in NYC when I saw the specialist who charged me $2,600 for just one ultrasound, but medicaid told him to shove his bill, so he did.

3) I had my son in the hospital. We do NOT have birthing centers in the area I'm from and we live about an hour away from the hospital where he was being delivered. There were some outrageous prices floating around, but I'm very glad that we chose not to try having a baby anywhere other than the hospital because our son ended up shacking up in the NICU for a week.

4) I did have my son via vaginal birth although a week before he was born, we were facing a scheduled c-section because he was frank breach. Luckily, he decided to re-situate himself and I was induced a week earlier than my due date because his vitals were starting to look funny.

Thank you to everybody who contributed to this discussion, it was very helpful.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Congratulations on the birth of your son and I'm glad to hear that you are all doing well .

Thanks for letting us know.

[hikergirl 277]

Congratulations on the birth of your son!

I am glad things worked out for you.

[Fandango 1,439]

Congratulations on your son and I'm glad it all worked out for you! God bless your family!

I didn't see this thread the first time around, so I have to add my .02. Telling people to 'insist your don't want a csection' is foolish and short sighted. None of us are doctors, more specifically, nor were we this woman's doctor. Sometimes they ARE necessary, and life saving.

Source? I was in induced labor for 36 hours. The baby wasn't moving, he needed to be born due to other complications, so stopping labor was not an option. His heart rate started to drop, and he was in distress.

So yeah, thank God I didn't come from the 'insisting not to have a c section' or else, God knows what would have happened.

Every case is different, remember that.

[N M 96]

Congratulations on your son and I'm glad it all worked out for you! God bless your family!

I didn't see this thread the first time around, so I have to add my .02. Telling people to 'insist your don't want a csection' is foolish and short sighted. None of us are doctors, more specifically, nor were we this woman's doctor. Sometimes they ARE necessary, and life saving.

Source? I was in induced labor for 36 hours. The baby wasn't moving, he needed to be born due to other complications, so stopping labor was not an option. His heart rate started to drop, and he was in distress.

So yeah, thank God I didn't come from the 'insisting not to have a c section' or else, God knows what would have happened.

Every case is different, remember that.

Plus 1 from me.

We never intended to have a c-section, but complications made it necessary. 26 hours into labour, we hit all kinds of issues, and Annette's doctor made the call to switch to an emergency c-section. We didn't think twice, never mind argue with anyone. Result - a healthy baby and mother. The likely outcome had we'd refused the c-section.... that's just too scary to contemplate.

Sounds like your son was ok despite the trauma, Anita?