Jhutchnz

Thank you everyone for your kind words, well wishes and advice. I am so on teh home birth but hubby is very skeptical but its early days yet, so hoping things may change.
He is trying to add me to his insurance (work)..which is another issue, but fingers crossed.
Just your support alone has helped me with a lot and I really appreciate it.
I live in Georgia for those who were wondering

We haven't made any big decisions yet, but your knowledge has added to our options. Thank you again.

Rete

Georgia (at least from Atlanta) is a 5 hour drive from Mississippi where midwives are allowed to practice. Perhaps you can go there for to find your midwife and deliver the baby at her office/home or at worse, a hotel room. I know, I know. If you are interested in a referral, let me know by private message.

MarylandNed

Your husband absolutely should put you on his health insurance plan....or some other plan. You don't pay a deductible if you don't use healthcare. But the deductible is there to help cap your out of pocket expenses if you do. So it makes sense to get health insurance. Many things can happen during a pregnancy that require healthcare. Besides the actual birth itself, you and/or the baby could develop health issues that are very expensive to treat without health insurance to fall back on. The same goes for your other child.

avanutria

If you're in Northern Georgia and can get to Tennessee, this might be an option for you:

http://www.thefarmmidwives.org/

The founder of this facility is VERY highly regarded in the midwifery and homebirth world.

MarylandNed

It's all very well recommending a home birth but the OP still has to be worried about potential healthcare costs. A home birth is not a substitute for health insurance. Things can go wrong and a trip to a hospital could still be necessary. Read this from the web site:

http://www.thefarmmidwives.org/hospital_transport.html


Hospital Transport
Most deliveries are natural and can be conducted safely at home or at our birthing center, however, situations can arise in which the midwives feel it would be safer for the mother and/ or the baby to be in the hospital.

If this becomes necessary, we will transport you to Maury Regional Hospital in Columbia or to Crockett Hospital in Lawrenceburg, where we work in collaboration with the obstetricians and pediatricians at those hospitals.

If the mother or the baby needs to be transported, one of our midwives will go with you and stay with you to labor coach and to interface with the hospital staff until your baby is born and both you and baby are stable.

Please be aware that you or your insurance company will be responsible for the hospital costs. You will still be responsible for the midwives’ fee.

avanutria

I was perhaps not clear that I was replying as an addendum to Rete's message two above me, where she commented that midwifery is available in Mississippi. I was not advocating a home birth instead of insurance, merely alerting the OP to a birth resource that she might not have known about.

Lbjen

Hopefully one of you has the option to take out a Flexible Spending Account next year (FSA), so that you can save for that deductible with your pre-tax earnings.

Check with the insurance company about what your actual expenses will be before doing that though, because you can't get it back if you don't spend it.

MarylandNed

Better still, hopefully a Health Savings Account (HSA) is available. I have a HSA rather than a FSA. With a HSA, you don't lose any unused funds at year end or if you leave your employer. The differences between FSA and HSA are explained here:

https://www.huntington.com/health_sa...HSA_vs_FSA.htm

http://cashmoneylife.com/comparing-f...vings-account/

Giantaxe

Given the OP has "no health insurance" an HSA is moot. And an FSA relies on an employer providing such an account.

MarylandNed

Er...we were talking about the OP being added to her husband's health insurance plan. She mentioned a deductible so a HSA may be available.

Giantaxe

Sure.. but adding a dependent typically isn't as simple as that. Usually, one can only do it at the beginning of the "plan year" or when some other "event" occurs. I suspect that this will mean she can add her to-be-born child when the child is born, but possibly not herself. Whether adding a dependent allows the OP's spouse then to have an FSA or HSA is an interesting question; I know it doesn't at my employer - one would have to wait until the start of the next tax year. Even if it does, would it allow for use with medical expenses for the OP if she could not be added at this point to her husband's insurance?

MarylandNed

Yes, I know that - it depends on the plan. The OP's husband should look into that. You can enroll in a HSA as soon as you are in a high deductible health plan (HDHP). There are some other restrictions regarding HSA eligibility but if you are eligible, you can enroll in the HSA at any time during the year.

Every plan I've seen allows a new born to be added immediately.

See above - if you are in a HDHP, you can start a HSA at any time.

Yes. You can use a HSA to pay for medical expenses for yourself, a spouse or a dependent without any tax penalty. It doesn't matter whether they are covered under your health insurance plan or not.

Giantaxe

Again, I think that depends on the employer. My - large - employer only permits HSA enrollments at the start of the plan (or tax; they coincide) year, except for new employees. Similarly with an FSA. I see the IRS only requires that you be insured "on the first day of the month".

Yes, I think this is an "event" defined by some federal law or other.

That's good to know.

Jhutchnz

Intereting information. I will bring this information to the table tonight. As soon as I cancel my student minimal insurance, then ill be able to join my husbands insurance (via employer) .
To be honest this conversation about insurance has made more sense to me then talking to HR. Thank you so much... now I have base knowledge of FSA and HSA I feel I can talk to HR and actually undertand the conversation.
My words do not communicate exactly how grateful I am for you all

MarylandNed

As far as I know, once you are enrolled in a HDHP, you are eligible to enroll in a HSA at any time (assuming you also pass some other restrictions). Federal law states that you must be enrolled in a HDHP in order to enroll in a HSA - it says nothing about timing.

What your employer is probably doing is restricting HDHP enrollments to the beginning of the year (except for new employees). So if you can't enroll in the HDHP, you obviously can't enroll in the HSA. It's my understanding that they can't stop you from enrolling in a HSA if you are enrolled in a HDHP - which means you could enroll in the HDHP during your employer's "open enrollment period" and enroll in the HSA later if you so wish.