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Giving birth in the USA

Giving birth in the USA

Old Jan 19th 2004, 10:11 am
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Default Giving birth in the USA

Can any one tell me what sort of cost will be involved with my wife giving birth in the USA? Also is it possible to take some sort medical insurance before/after arrival to cover the cost? (doubfull i know)

We will be going to Indiana 5-6 months before she is due.

Any suggestions or thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks
Rob
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Old Jan 19th 2004, 12:37 pm
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Default Re: Giving birth in the USA

Originally posted by roberttmms
Can any one tell me what sort of cost will be involved with my wife giving birth in the USA? Also is it possible to take some sort medical insurance before/after arrival to cover the cost? (doubfull i know)

We will be going to Indiana 5-6 months before she is due.

Any suggestions or thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks
Rob

If she is not covered by your plan or anything, then you are probably out of luck getting insurance by this time. You can get (expensive) insurance policies with maternity riders here, but not, er, after the fact I don't think! You might check with a travellers insurance company though. Check with the hospital where you will be going to see if they have some kind of plan. I gave birth here in Chicago and got a "flat rate" plan from the hospital of $2,500 dollars. Otherwise it would have been ten times as much - not exaggerating. This was four years ago. Good luck to both of you.
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Old Jan 19th 2004, 2:00 pm
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Somebody I know just had twins, they said it was in the region of $14,000 or something outragous
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Old Jan 19th 2004, 3:13 pm
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I have sent an email to the local hospital to see what they say, fingers crossed they dont quote me into 5 figures. I have looked at some insurance policies and they seem to cover what we need but yet again i have had to email them to see if will cover us as it is an "existing condition".

Thanks for your info folks
Rob
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Old Jan 19th 2004, 3:16 pm
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If your misses is already pregnant, I'll tell you right now it is a pre-existing condition
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Old Jan 19th 2004, 3:23 pm
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Originally posted by manc1976
If your misses is already pregnant, I'll tell you right now it is a pre-existing condition
"We know about pre-existing conditions.
Call us on the help line - 1 800 WE LITIGATE"




...
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Old Jan 19th 2004, 3:26 pm
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It seems hard to weigh up the best way to do this, if we can get any one to insure us it will cost $1700+ from what i have seen, with an excess of $500 so total cost of $2200, but if we can get an agreed amount off the hospital as suggested by lion in winter then it makes sense to do that.
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Old Jan 19th 2004, 3:31 pm
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Will you not be entitled to group health insurance for you and your misses through your employer?
It is possible to get around pre-existing conditions sometimes that way.
In Group Health insurance there are a lot less underwriting guidelines than on individual policies.
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Old Jan 19th 2004, 3:55 pm
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Originally posted by roberttmms
It seems hard to weigh up the best way to do this, if we can get any one to insure us it will cost $1700+ from what i have seen, with an excess of $500 so total cost of $2200, but if we can get an agreed amount off the hospital as suggested by lion in winter then it makes sense to do that.
Surely an agreed amount is only OK if you have a standard birth with no complications? If anything (God forbid) goes wrong and you need a caesarian or other procedures, then wouldn't those be charged for in addition?
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Old Jan 19th 2004, 3:59 pm
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Your quite right, these are all things that we need to look into, i must admitt i am struggling with the idea of paying so much money for what we take for granted in the uk. From what i have read, if she has a normal birth with no complications it should not be to expensive, but i have yet to find out what the cost of c-section and any other possibilities may cost
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Old Jan 19th 2004, 4:48 pm
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I have a really sad, true story here and I hope to God that you don't experience anything like it - but it's something to take into account.

About 5 years ago when I was living in Singapore, I was a volunteer in the office of ANZA - the Australian and New Zealand Association.

An appeal had gone out to all the expat associations from a Scottish lady who was in dire straits. Her husband was working for a local Singaporean Chinese company and they didn't have a great income or a lot of the expat perks one normally gets in the Far East. The lady was quite advanced into her pregnancy when the husband was suddenly made redundant. His medical insurance was cancelled too. The wife hadn't had a very good pregnancy and was too pregnant to get permission to fly. Not only did the couple have no income as he didn't get any redundancy compensation - but what little they had saved was to pay for their rent until the baby was born and they could fly back to Scotland.

Sadly when the baby was born he was found to have a major problem with his heart. The couple were in a terrible dilemma - Singapore hospitals are far cheaper than in the US, but even so the bills are high when there are complications. The baby was in the hospital SCBU and there was no alternative but to operate (he was too sick to travel to the UK). This poor family didn't have enough money to pay for the op which was going to cost tens of thousands of $$ on top of the daily hospital fees and cost of the birth (although the heart Consultant did waive some of his fees). They were from very modest backgrounds in Scotland and their families didn't have enough money to wire over for the hospital charges.

This poor couple couldn't get any money from the British High Commission (which isn't allowed to lend money to distressed Brits overseas) and suggested that they put an appeal out to the expat community. It was heartbreaking to read her letter - she said that she was mortified to have to write such a letter and felt so ashamed, but she had no idea what she could do otherwise. We all rallied round and a good-sized sum was raised which went towards the hospital fees. Tragically her little baby died after the operation. British Airways very kindly flew home the couple and their dead baby free of charge - they had no money left even for their airfares home.

ANZA received a lovely letter from the lady after she arrived home, but she said that never in a million years did she imagine that they would ever have been in such a situation.

Now I hope that nothing untowards happens during the pregnancy or postnatally, but I do hope Robert that you and your wife can sort out medical coverage for the USA. If not, I would strongly suggest that your wife stays on in the UK until the baby is born then flies across to the US a couple of weeks later. For all its faults, the NHS is a marvellous institution and families are not bankrupted in the UK because of their medical situations.

Good Luck!
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Old Jan 19th 2004, 4:52 pm
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In the USA, with or without funds...........You get the treatment in the case of an emergency.
They'll of course send you a bill later.

horrible story though, can't imagine what they went through

Last edited by manc1976; Jan 19th 2004 at 5:04 pm.
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Old Jan 19th 2004, 5:13 pm
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My company just switched health insurance providers.

I find it ironic that my new insurance company will pay for my wife's hospital bills if she was pregnant ($10,000-$20,000), but won't cover contraceptive pills ($30 p/m) because her brand (the one she has been taking for years) is not on their list of preferred drugs (Read, not receiving kickbacks from the drug company)
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Old Jan 19th 2004, 10:39 pm
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What an awful story, no one should have to go through that ever!! But i have found an insurer that will take us on, at a premium of course, but they have a 50/50 chance of making money out of us, if all goes well they will be in profit , but if something is not quite right they will have to pay out.

Thanks to every one for there stories and advise and words of caution, its most appreciated.

Thanks
Rob
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Old Jan 20th 2004, 1:46 am
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My wife was 6 months pregnant when we came here in Oct 2002. We couldn't get any cover at all with local providers (pre-existing condition), but managed to get an extension on our previous health insurance to cover any complications arising during and after delivery, but they would NOT cover the actual birth, which was routine and set us back about $6k (I think - can't find the paperwork offhand) including prenatal scans and checkups.

Apart from the insurance problem, another problem we had was in actually finding an OBGYN to take her on - as soon as they knew how far along she was, they all refused her. In the end we went with a newly qualified OBGYN who we're sure only took us on because she was trying to build up her workload!! May be worth talking to your current gynae to see if they can get you sorted out with someone before you arrive, or at least get a referral.
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