Health Insurance Maternity Coverage - Are You Covered?

If you have a healthcare plan through your employer or your spouse's employer, odds are you have some form of medical insurance motherhood coverage. Most employer-sponsored medical insurance plans provided by larger insurance companies include, at the least, minimal coverage for prenatal care and delivery. Smaller insurance companies and some managed care plans may not include coverage for pregnancy and delivery, but as a general rule of thumb, employer plans include maternity care. Typically, reproductive health such as infertility treatments or elective procedures such as tubal ligations are not covered under a standard insurance policy.

Individuals with private medical insurance plans may or may not have coverage for maternity or prenatal care. In such cases, a maternity coverage rider must be added to the policy prior to pregnancy in order for expenses to be covered. Even with a maternity rider, coverage may be limited to delivery only. Some health insurance maternity coverage riders will cover prenatal visits on a limited basis. For example, the plan may cover routine doctor visits, blood tests, and typical lab work. However, the plan may not cover certain tests like ultrasounds or amniocentesis unless a physician or healthcare practitioner deems the test medically necessary.

In terms of medical insurance motherhood coverage, there is no guarantee that any one policy, either private or employer-sponsored, will have such coverage as part of their standard policy. In fact, some employer-sponsored healthcare plan options allow for employees to select a plan based on various factors, such as whether they wish to have maternity coverage. Certain plans offered by an employer may cover maternity expenses, but have higher premiums than plan options without such coverage. Likewise, with private insurance, there are also numerous plan options, some of which may include maternity coverage while others do not.

As a general rule, medical insurance motherhood coverage will increase a plan's premiums. Whether an individual or family opts to have maternity coverage added as a rider to a standard policy, or selects a plan that includes maternity coverage, increasing the number of conditions covered under a health insurance policy normally increases the premiums. For those without healthcare coverage, the expenses for a typical pregnancy can range from $7,000 to $15,000. In light of such expenses, it may be worthwhile to invest the additional premiums to have maternity coverage. This is especially true in the event of complications such as the need for a C-section.If you need assistance in locating particular coverages at a pre-determined price, we can help save 50% on health insurance.