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Best place to give birth in The Triad (North Carolina)

Best place to give birth in The Triad (North Carolina)

Old Jan 20th 2012, 12:13 pm
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Question Best place to give birth in The Triad (North Carolina)

Dear All,

Could you please share your experience in giving birth in the Triad area (Greensboro—Winston-Salem—High Point)? My wife will soon have a baby and we are looking at the best place in the area.

Many thanks!

Cheers!
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Old Jan 20th 2012, 12:20 pm
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Default Re: Best place to give birth in The Triad (North Carolina)

You say your wife will have a baby 'soon', how soon? Just that I notice from your other thread a couple of weeks ago that you were only just contemplating a potential move over there, and the visa will take quite a while to sort out.

Have you sorted health insurance via work, and will it cover your wife's pregnancy?
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Old Jan 20th 2012, 12:24 pm
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Default Re: Best place to give birth in The Triad (North Carolina)

Hello,

Visa has been granted and my wife is due in July. I still need to understand how the insurance will work and have scheduled some appointments to speak with various providers. While I think the insurance will be good, I do not think it will cover 100% of the costs. So this is under discussion.

But regardless of the insurance, I would still like to know which medical facility people would recommend, since I am, as you can imagine quite anxious to make sure we will have the best possible conditions.

Cheers!
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Old Jan 20th 2012, 12:42 pm
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Default Re: Best place to give birth in The Triad (North Carolina)

Providers?

It will be the one that your Employer uses.
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Old Jan 20th 2012, 12:48 pm
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Default Re: Best place to give birth in The Triad (North Carolina)

It appears that the expat insurance would allow me to choose the provider. That is why I would like to understand which medical facility is best.

Should I hear concerns about the Triad area, I am willing to look into RD/Charlotte.

Thanks.
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Old Jan 20th 2012, 12:55 pm
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Default Re: Best place to give birth in The Triad (North Carolina)

Regardless of provider you're looking at around $5000 to start with.
If your wife and baby get into difficulties you can go above and beyond anything you can imagine. My friends C Section cost them $65,000 (and yes that was after the insurance company paid their portion).

Where you choose to give birth many be stipulated by the provider you choose, you may not be able to choose the provider based upon where you want to give birth.

What visa are you coming on?
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Old Jan 20th 2012, 1:02 pm
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Default Re: Best place to give birth in The Triad (North Carolina)

Wow. That sounds pretty messed up ($5-65k!!). H1B visa. How about all the visits and prenatal check-ups?

I really need to check these details very well, since I am still not there and if that should be the case, I can always say I won't go...

Please share as many details as possible.
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Old Jan 20th 2012, 1:13 pm
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Default Re: Best place to give birth in The Triad (North Carolina)

Someone experienced in having a baby will be along in a minutes, but basically you pay as you go, for each blood test, each visit, each pill, potion and diagnostic to a multiple number of doctors and offices.

My friends epxerince was that she started in one hospital, trying for a natural birth, due to having diffculties, and the centre she was at couldn't handle it she was transferred to another a few miles away.
She then had an emergency C section and the baby was in ITU for two weeks.
When the bills started coming in for everything (all separate, from different doctors, and extremly hard to work out waht they were for) she started keeping track and worked out that she had been charged something like $7 for a painkiller.
In addition when then fur is flying it's hard to keep track of who is an "in provider and "out provider". Her normal Dr called another for an opinion and yes - she was charged for an opinion from someone outside her insurance policy......

Seriously you need to do some homework on this.

If you're on H1B - I thought you couldn't start till October? or was it issued last year?
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Old Jan 20th 2012, 1:19 pm
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Default Re: Best place to give birth in The Triad (North Carolina)

again, the insurance and what they are willing to pay plays a huge deal in the prenatal stuff...my wife and I just had a baby here in Florida 10weeks ago, we were on insurance through our work place and were on a 90/10 policy where the insurance pays 90% and we pay 10% , with $500 deductible, we ended up paying $3500 to the OB doctor just for the prenatal checkups and vaginal delivery...the hospital bill for the stay for the delivery was another $2000 , we were lucky in the fact that it was a complication free delivery and didnt need a C-section
these numbers are our costs after the insurance company paid their end... the OB doctors bill was $1000 less than they normally charge as they had agreed rates with our insurance company

i know you were asking for info on N Carolina but thought id share our financial experience with delivery anyways, just in case it helps any
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Old Jan 21st 2012, 9:26 am
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Default Re: Best place to give birth in The Triad (North Carolina)

Hi not sure if this help but 4 years ago we moved to Charlotte, and I was 6 months pregnant at the time of the move.
My first problem was not many Ob/Gyn clinics wouldn't take me on! as most of my checks had been completed out of country, so after many phonecall's from the UK to different ob/gyn Clinics one finally approved me and was willing to be my doctor on the approval that even tho I had my UK medical records he insisted that all tests must be retaken.
I gave birth to our son at Presbyterian Hospital in the city of Charlotte.(complication free however was wimp with pain so had a epidural ($$$) ) This is where the doctor recommended us to go. as the doctor you see at the clinic is also the doctor that gets called out to deliver your baby.
As for insurance, This terrified us... after new baby the postbox was none stop with medical bill after medical bill !!! ARGH! however our insurance cover was good and even tho the bills totalled to about $25,000 our coverage was 90/10 after the first $2.500 then 100% coverage after $4,500.
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Old Jan 21st 2012, 12:18 pm
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Default Re: Best place to give birth in The Triad (North Carolina)

Dear All,

Thank you very much for all your messages!

I was told that in America one can quite easily find out on the Internet the ratings of various clinics, hospitals and doctors, based on former and current patients' ratings. Strangely enough, I don't seem to find such ratings, or I don't know where to look... Any thoughts on this?

@gryff31: do you regret moving over to NC in your 6th month of pregnancy? Is it crazy to do it, as we are about to? Based on your experience, would you be afraid to do it again? Also, if you remember, could you list the medical facilities that you spoke with?

Many thanks and have a great weekend All!
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Old Jan 21st 2012, 12:54 pm
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Default Re: Best place to give birth in The Triad (North Carolina)

We pay 20%. The Obgyn who you see you antenatal appointments and then the delivery wanted the cash up front for all their services. That gets held in a holding account until after the birth. In addition to this, I pay for every blood test, scan and other test. To give you an idea, we pay about $40 for each scan and $20 for each blood test. The more complex bloods and tests cost more. Our fee for the OBGYN was $600.
We see the hospital next for our booking in appointment and to arrange their fees. Our policy is thankfully excellent so when we hit $2000, our payments are capped and the rest is fully covered.
To find my doctors originally, I did some Internet searching for reviews and asked locals for recommendations. In the end I went for a massive practice which had internal doctors, OBGYN and radiography on site.
In my experience, the hospital I go to has been determined by the OBGYN I go to, which in turn was determined in part by who my health care provider is.
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Old Jan 21st 2012, 2:08 pm
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Default Re: Best place to give birth in The Triad (North Carolina)

HI,
I have no regrets at all, don't get me wrong the first few months it was hard, new place, no family, friends, and hormones going crazy, we were lucky as our company put us up in corporate apartment for 5weeks in the Pineville area of Charlotte until we could find our own house. In Charlotte it seems there were two main Healthcare providers, Presbyterian and Carolina's medical (not sure that this will be the same in the Triad area). but I used their sites to find Ob/gyn doctors in the Pineville area and which one accepted Blue Cross Blue Shield (our Insurance)

is your company offering you any housing solutions for when you get here? For me being pregnant this was the hardest thing was to find our new house and feel settled. and that will also help determine which ob/gyn to go for so you don't have to travel too much.

however..

Try joining this site which covers the triad area that your moving to. I joined the Charlotte version and there was some great mommies on it that can recommend which Ob/gyns to go, and personal reviews also a whole relocation section which helped us to short list places to go look at to live. It was a lifeline for me for the first year, as they were always willing to help.

http://www.triadmommies.com

We loved our time in the USA (unfortunately our visa expired a year ago so we had to leave for 365 days before we could apply to come back) hopefully we should be returning to the Carolina's in the summer!!

Hope this helps
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Old Jan 21st 2012, 3:50 pm
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Default Re: Best place to give birth in The Triad (North Carolina)

Thank you so very much for the information and for sharing with us your experience--it takes away a serious dose of anxiety... All those things we hear in Europe about the US medical system made us feel very "vulnerable" thinking we'd arrive there and we cannot benefit from top medical care for the birth, our baby and Mom.

Many thanks, and if you feel there's anything more that comes to mind please post it.
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Old Jan 21st 2012, 7:34 pm
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Default Re: Best place to give birth in The Triad (North Carolina)

Your very welcome..

just make sure you have a good insurance policy that covers you family (if not maybe consider taking out a private secondary) and it will be okay.. at first I did not understand the insurance/medical side of things and was completely useless and overwhelmed by it all.
we were with blue cross blue shield and they were very helpful, also that the time of birth we were still selling of our house in the UK so had very little spare cash but the hospital were happy for us to pay instalments.
we learnt our lessons after the birth and my oldest son breaking his leg and now have the policy of always keeping about $3000 in an account for medical emergencies.
However the plus note, the medical facilities in the US are amazing! The hospital was more like a hotel and the staff were fantastic.

Ps on a plus note for the future (I wish someone told me this) Prescription's can be expensive and some drugs are not covered on insurance always check this and ask the doctor if a generic is available. I remember our son having a ear infection and even tho we had a prescription medical card it still cost me $120 for ear drops!
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