zargof

Just wondering if anyone here has had any success in persuading their health insurance company to pay for a certified nurse widwife for a home birth? I've looked at the policy and it says that CNMs are not covered, so I think I'm SOL, but just wondering if anyone has managed this.

With the first sprog we went the OBGYN/hospital route, but we don't want to go that way again as there was too much unnecessary intervention and drugs IMO. As for the cost, well even if the insewerance don't cover any of it I think it will work out about the same with the amount we had to pay (actually still paying) in the end, but it would be nice to get some cash back from them.

If anyone has some words of wisdom on this I would appreciate it.

Thanks.

Bill_S

MsElui did a home birth, send her a PM.

Rete

Nope, my daughter didn't have any luck with that with health plan either when she used a certified midwife in Mississippi ONE YEAR AGO TODAY.

But then it only cost $1,500 for the midwife plus the cost of the materials needed for the birth. It was a write off on their income tax.

If the birth isn't until next year, why can't you claim it under your flex spending for 2010. Just allocate for the cost when figuring out your 2010 expenses.

Mallory

But if she has any complications, or needs C-section, you'll right back in the hospital setting, paying for both.

nethead

I had a homebirth too. I think some insurers will pay some won't, my midwife sent of a claim to ours but they didn't pay (Aetna). Have you talked to your insurers yet?

http://www.gentlebirth.org/archives/money.html#HMO

Mummy in the foothills

Some will pay for a birth center and those are staffed by CNM quite often, sort of in between the two if you can't get the home birth.

zargof

Thanks for the link, some useful info there.

I haven't talked to my insurers yet, but I've looked at the policy and it does state in there that services from a CNM are not covered. However, after some reading it seems that it maybe illegal under Iowa law to deny the services of a CNM. It wouldn't be the first time that a health insurance policy had something illegal in it.

zargof

I don't really know much about FSAs, but that might be an idea. I wanted to check if I do use the FSA to pay the CNM, can I then claim for a reimbursement of that money, or does using the FSA preclude that option?

Bob

You set the money aside, essentially saying you'll put in x amount of cash to lower your tax allowance.

If you have a need, the money is then used to pay those medical costs, right down to prescriptions etc.

Anything left over is lost.

MsElui

i got a 'procedure code' from the midwives i wanted to use - and asked my insurers about it - who told me I was covered. What they didnt explain then was that It was out of network so I would only get 80%. But that was still cheaper than a full on hospital birth. I had to pay the midwives up front and then claim it back after the birth. I had already had 2 very quick and easy births (both 3 hours or less from waking up to popping out baby - with no drugs etc) so i knew i could reasonably expect (but no guarantee) a similar birth the 3rd time. As it was - it was exceptionally easy and the midwives gave me help and advice that facilitated it - so it was a great birth! I had 2 certified midwives (one is for you and one for baby) and a trainee.

I didnt switch over to a midwife until about the 5th months tho - so had already had bloodworks and scans etc done by a regular OB.

If you want to see the midwife site i used - have a look here:
http://www.choicemidwives.org/
let me know if you have more questions!