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.

That being said, many pregnant women do not possess any form of health insurance. This is dangerous: it has been statistically demonstrated that children born to women who have not received medical treatment during their pregnancy are more likely to have low birth weight, as well as 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% of 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.

One obstacle that uninsured pregnant women face is that most companies simply do not accept them, on the grounds that the pregnant is a pre-existing condition. Although there are ways to overcome this (which we will shortly discuss), ideally if you are an uninsured woman who intends to get pregnant soon, please obtain health insurance beforehand. This may save a lot of grief (and worse) later on. The following are a few useful and practical tips on how uninsured women may obtain health insurance:

First, use all the resources at your disposal: shop around, search the internet, ask physicians. There are health insurance companies who may be able to provide pregnancy health coverage and discounted health care coverage, you just need to find them. These days it is extremely easy to obtain health insurance quotes online from a long list of providers, so use this, and you are likely to find a health insurance that will accept you.

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, check with other agencies, such as WIC. WIC offers low income women and children under 5 to get health services. It also provides food supplements.

In conclusion, if you are in this position and yet are able to get several possible health plans, choose your plan carefully. Specifically, make sure your plans covers everything that you need (i.e. a hospital only plan will not cover visits to a physician’s clinic).