Health Insurance Plans For The Expectant Mother

A very informative post by Wojciech Ciszewski
Excitement over a pregnancy can easily turn into worry and anxiety if a woman has no health insurance coverage. The Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 was created to keep pregnant women from being discriminated against regarding personal health insurance. Unfortunately, this act does not apply to companies with less than 15 employees or individual health policies. Even if a woman has health insurance, pregnancy may not be covered unless a rider to the policy is purchased.

These riders are expensive, have limited coverage and usually have waiting periods from six months to more than a year. A report by the National Women's Law Center in 2009 showed that only 13% of 3,600 national policies covered pregnancy. Even with these difficulties there are options for pregnant women who are without health insurance.

The average cost for a normal pregnancy, which includes prenatal and post partum care, can be anywhere from $10,000 to $12,000 so it is essential to find some type of health insurance. For women considered low-income there are State programs such as Medicaid and WIC that can help with medical care and nutrition. There is also a federal program called CHIP (Children's Health Insurance Program). These programs are run by the Department of Health (DHS) and even if you don't qualify for Medicaid, there may be other programs available. DHS will be able to give you helpful information.

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