Getting Health Insurance For Pregnant Women

Although it is important for everyone to have a health insurance, it is particularly important in the context of pregnant women. The reason is obvious: there are many things that can go wrong during pregnancy, or could be made better if the woman is aware of certain facts. Therefore, it is essential that pregnant women periodically receive check-ups in order to make sure the pregnancy is progressing properly and there are no detectable problems with their unborn child.

Unfortunately, many pregnant women do not have health insurance. It has been statistically shown that when they deliver, their babies are more likely to have low birth weight and higher incidents of death.

Getting an insurance while pregnant has become significant today because of the towering cost of health insurance in the United States. According to the American Health Association, 41 million Americans are not insured, and around 13% pregnant women in the country do not possess any form of health insurance. This puts these women and their unborn children at risk.

Prenatal checkups can be very expensive, not to mention hospital and delivery charges which could cost $10,000 or more. Furthermore, if there are complications, such as premature birth or the woman requires a cesarean section, the costs would be much greater. Therefore, it is strongly recommended for pregnant women to find a way to obtain health insurance.

The problem is that most companies do not accept new insurance policies from pregnant women whose pregnancy has been assessed as a pre-existing condition. Ideally, if you are a woman and you know you wish to get pregnant, things would be much easier for you if you got health insurance before you got pregnant. That being said, if you are uninsured and found out you are pregnant, here are some useful tips that could help you obtain health insurance:

First, shop around - search the internet - for health insurance companies who can provide pregnancy health coverage and discounted health care coverage. It is easy to get free instant quotes from multiple providers. Some may very well be more affordable than others.

Second, there are some federally funded programs which offer healthcare coverage for low income people. Medicaid, for example, allows you to enroll in a health insurance plan even when you are pregnant. An additional program is CHIP. Some states have specialized programs for this purpose: investigate whether your state offers one.

Third, look for additional benefits provided by other agencies. WIC is a federal agency that offers health services to low income women and children under 5, and also provides food supplements.

Finally, if you are in a position where you have several options, make sure you choose your plan carefully: choose the plan which covers all the benefits you may require. For example a hospital-only plan will not cover visits to a physician's clinic.