Originally Posted by angelman

yes i know its all very funny.. however seriously its just such a screwed up system here especialyl when you are used to the nhs.
the insurance companies seem to try to rip you off as much as possible. no other industry would be allowed such opaque pricing, rules etc. etc.
Our problem is that we are falling through the holes. The only solution it seems is for my wife to quit her very good teaching job in order to get in on my insurance again. The idea of going to the Uk for the baby is just one of desperation really. How we both get to live in the UK is a question for another time.. or a search on the forum later

I hear such horror stories such as if your doctor isnt available at some crucial point another doctor might step in except he might be under some other insurance scheme not covered by yours so you have to pay, except that you may never know what the hell insurance the doctor uses anyway and you arent going to ask during giving birth!

The problem is my wife has an excellent doctor that she really trusts etc. except now over night she will have to start again if she goes with the crappy insurance her work provides. We will be paying $1000's for this baby unless she quits her job. What kind of country forces someone to quit their job in order to get fair medical attention..
I think Americans just dont realise how the other half live. I never want to hear anyone moan about the NHS again!

Originally Posted by cinnabar

Millions of US citizens don't have health insurance, and those same millions have babies in the US.

How does that work?

Is there some kind of third-class cattle truck sort of hospital they go to, where they have their babies on rushes on the floor?

Originally Posted by angelman

I have great health insurance here in california apparently. Still stuns me how utterly crap it is. I forgot my health insurance card one day going to a hospital. They HAD to have a hard copy of it, for some reason having it in the computer database was not enough, they just love beurocratic paperwork here I think.
You then sign a multitude of forms filled with small print. Apparently one of them says that you are responsible of informing all billing parties of your health insurance details. What I did not know that there a multiple billing companies all working on ones case, the doctors the hospital, the specialist. Each bill seperately. Months later I get a call from the collections people telling me that i did not pay my bill and I owe $3500! I assumed the hospital would hand my details over to all the people billing me. They did not. Not only that there is not really a way I can find out who is billing me until they send a bill (sent to the wrong address).
Now my wife may have to quit her job as she is pregnant and since her job now offers crappy health insurance that she declined but now my health insurance wont cover her because her job did offer health insurance. Its insanity.
If only more people could come from the uk to check out just how bad this godawful private health care is they would be running home and blesisng the NHS every day!

Does anyone have experience of sending wives back home to have a baby. I heard that they have recently closed the loophole allowing expats to do this.
Do you think my having a flat back home and uk bank accounts could help her be elegible for the nhs and to have her have the baby in england?

Originally Posted by NC Penguin

I don't quite get it. Surely your wife is a dependant on your health insurance? Are you saying that even when both of you worked and you had health insurance through your employer, she has never been on your health insurance? That sounds really odd.


NC Penguin

Originally Posted by NC Penguin

I don't quite get it. Surely your wife is a dependant on your health insurance? Are you saying that even when both of you worked and you had health insurance through your employer, she has never been on your health insurance? That sounds really odd.


NC Penguin

Originally Posted by Jerseygirl

I wondered about that too. We just have hubby's healthcare insurance...it covers me and our 21 yr old.

Originally Posted by NC Penguin

Children are (rarely?) covered indefinitely on their parents health insurance. From what I've read, the age is 21 (unless they're in college).


NC Penguin

Originally Posted by NC Penguin

Children are (rarely?) covered indefinitely on their parents health insurance. From what I've read, the age is 21 (unless they're in college).


NC Penguin

Originally Posted by gruffbrown

Noooo, I mean a flood of Amniotic Fluid in the Knicker Department of M&S used to get you a 100 quid gift certificate, or is that urban myth?

Originally Posted by mandpete

I spent the last two weeks of my first pregnancy hanging around M&S because my midwife told me that if your waters broke in M&S they would give you tons of baby stuff. I never got to find out if it was true or not.

Originally Posted by gruffbrown

I wonder if Virgin give you a 100 quid voucher if your waters break on a flight, like M&S?

Originally Posted by angelman

We will be paying $1000's for this baby unless she quits her job. What kind of country forces someone to quit their job in order to get fair medical attention..

Originally Posted by mandpete

I spent the last two weeks of my first pregnancy hanging around M&S because my midwife told me that if your waters broke in M&S they would give you tons of baby stuff. I never got to find out if it was true or not.

Originally Posted by ladygwennie

Hmmm have to agree with you now, after thinking about it. What ins was the OP's wife on before this situation arouse? How did she lose any ins? Dependents should be covered regardless of whether or not they have ins already or not (i know on ours u can have double coverage).