Medicaid, the Sex of My Baby?

Hi, Virginia College used to take appointments for anyone to come in and have an ultra sound as practice for their ultra sound tech students. I don't know if they still do, but it would be worth a call.

I have had to be on Medicaid for my babies and they have always paid for one sonigram and told me what they saw the babies sex was! One time they did two different ones and never charged me for it being done twice. If it is possible to get thru to medicaid....then call and ask them. I have never had trouble with getting my ultrasound

Well dear, I've had six beautiful precious babies( all grown/doing great), and I knew the sex of only one of them(I asked God for a little girl, believed He would honor my request by trusting His word to give me the desires of my heart, and in 9mo. I was holding my beautiful baby girl !). Don't fret, He knows what you're having, just pray for a healthy baby and enjoy the gift !
When you're holding your baby in your arms, it won't matter what the sex is,
only that (he or she) is safe, and in the loving arms of a potentially great mom.
CONGRATULATION !!

Ultrasounds are designed to determine the health of the baby, not determing the sex. No matter what type of insurance you have, they will not cover the cost of sexing the baby. Insurance is for medical cost, not for "fun". What you should be concerned with at this point is your health and the health of your baby? What difference does it make if it's a girl or a boy?

There is a very small chance that you could be able to find out at the ultrasound. It depends on the position of the baby at the time. When you go for the ultrasound ask the technician if possible you would like to know.

Usually they do the ultrasound between 16-20 weeks, so while the visit is not specifically to determine the sex of the baby, usually they can. I would try not to worry too much about this.

With my first baby, I went for my ultrasound and the baby was facing my back and was sideways across my belly. There was no way they could see whether it was a boy or girl. My insurance wouldn't pay for another ultrasound. So... I have this friend who is a veterinary surgeon. She happens to have an ultrasound machine in her office. (You see where this is going, right?) I went to her office and laid on the table where they put the large animals for surgery, and she flipped on the ultrasound machine (I was so relieved that she didn't have to use the "bovine" setting - fortunately I was in the "large canine" range). Anyhow, the baby was still in the wrong position to see anything! So when our baby was born, that was the first time we knew we had a baby girl! It was actually a wonderful surprise. So even if you can't find out in the ultrasound, it will be okay!

I'm sure that what was meant is that they cannot do an ultrasound just to find out the sex of the baby. My daughter was on a state health plan and the technician did tell her the sex of the baby. Finding out the sex of the baby has to be done at the same time an ultrasound is done for other reasons, routine or for health reasons.

I do understand why you cried. Do not feel badly that some do not understand. You are greatly disappointed. And....it sounds like the doctor was not understanding of you or your question. I would have cried too.

I suggest that you talk with other mothers in your area who have had their babies while on medicaid. My daughter lived in "affordable housing" and made friends with others who were also receiving care under the Oregon Health Plan. Another place to meet women using medicaid would be in the doctor's waiting room.

Are you getting WIC? I think that's a federal program. If so, you will be assigned a nutrition counselor. She will be able to answer questions such as this or refer you to someone who can.

I may not understand what is meant by medicaid. In Oregon we have both medicaid and the Oregon Health Plan. I think the difference is related to why you don't have private insurance. So, you may not have WIC coverage. WIC coverage is related to having an income below a certain percentage of poverty level.

Another thought is to call your medicaid office and ask them about this. Hopefully you'll get a caring person. If not call again later. I also think that medicaid offices have booklets that describe what services are covered.

Four years ago when I had my four year old, we did not have insurance and we made too much $ from my husbands job and we could not get Medicaid. So we had to pay ALL BY OURSELEVES a little over $8,000.00
BEFORE my son was due to the Dr. and the Hospital or they wouldn't deliver the baby for me - or take care of me with the Dr.'s visits.

It was VERY stressful and we almost didn't make all of the payments in time.

So please, be thankful that you are getting help and that you are not having to pay for this yourself.

Relax, you should be able to see or find out from a reg. check up that you will get when they check the baby on an ultrasound. They will need to make sure the baby has two legs, two arms, a good heart beat and so on.
They will need to measure the babys tummy and head to figure out what size it is.

If you get mad at the Dr. or get loud with a nurse then they will not forget you and they will not help you. Stay calm and wait. You need to be about 5 months along before they can tell.

Enjoy your baby.
If no one tells you what the sex of the baby will be then that's ok it will be a surprise when you deliver the baby.
Just buy stuff for a boy or a girl. Like white outfits or yellow. Buy multicolor blankets.
The hospital should give you a diaper bag when you have the baby.
Don't buy a bunch of new born diapers. Only get 1 or 2 packs. Then get size 1. Don't buy a bunch of size 1 as well. Only get about 4 to 5 packs. Then get size 2. Babys grow fast.

Focus on stocking up on diapers and wipes and butt cream.
You should start now.

I wish you the best of luck and try to relax and eat well.
Get lots of rest.

= )

I think if you were wanting an ultrasound JUST to find out the sex of the baby they wouldn't cover it. You usually can't tell the sex of a baby via ultrasound anyway until you're about 22 weeks. The docs like to do an ultrasound then anyway to make sure everything still checks out ok (measure head, check lungs...all that jazz). They should be able to tell you then what you're having and it won't be an elective thing. Hope this helps. :)

I was on medicaid for my last baby and even though they SAY Medicaid won't cover it, the person who does your ultrasound will probably tell you if you ask. They told us when I went in for an Ultrasound. And you can always confirm it at your next ultrasounds (if you have more than one). I was high risk so I had SEVERAL ultrasounds...

....it's not a bad thing to not know, especially to cry over (i'm not being mean...just saying) look, i have medicaid too. he's right, they won't pay it. they do an anatomy scan at 20 or so weeks, and they'll tell you then. but they don't do scans just to tell the sex...that's definantly a waste of money. so don't cry over it, you'll know (make sure to have sugar before you do go so baby will move around and show you). medicaid traditionally only covers 1 sono per pregnancy, but i've had 3 and i'm not high risk. go figure. (AND, they can tell the sex at 12 weeks, just not very accurate. best time is 16 weeks and on. i was told at 12, 18, and 22 wks....confirming what i was told at 12 wks...lol and now i'm 32 wks.

When I had my ultrasound at 18 weeks they made sure everything was healthy but the tech could not tell if it was a boy or girl. I went to a US clinic, specifically to tell the sex, and it was around 60.00, and they gave us a lot of print outs of our little one. The price wasnt bad, the facility was very nice, and so were the people. Maybe see if there is one near you?

I am not on Medicaid, but preventive ultrasounds around 20 weeks are standard in prenatal care. Sometimes the baby is not cooperative and you cannot see the gender, but other times you can't help but see (we wanted to know and it was clear we were having boys before the tech asked us if we wanted to know).

Ultrasounds can show so many helpful things, including confirming the due and, as someone mentioned, knowing if the baby might meet need immediate care for something (we've known people who delivered at special hospitals because they had that ultrasound and their baby was fine because he received the care he needed).

If your doctor is dragging his feet, and refuses to order a routine ultrasound, you can also call around your area (I am not familiar with it) and see if there are any pregnancy centers. We have an organization called CompassCare which offers women counseling and care, including ultrasounds. They are always posting something with our church for expectant moms to go and let their techs practice the ultrasounds and give us an extra peek. If you check with a place like that and mention that your doctor is not ordering one, you could probably get one.

At 9 weeks they probably can't tell the sex of the baby regardless, but technically your doctor is correct that Medicaid will not cover an ultrasound JUST to determine the baby's sex. Medicaid only covers medical necessities. Around 20 weeks they will have to do another ultrasound that is medically necessary to check the kidneys, heart, and other organs development. Usually they take a little detour to see what sex the baby is. If your baby is uncooperative, at this appointment, then you will miss your chance. They won't do another ultrasound unless it is medically necessary. Your family history can play an important part in this as well. For example if you (or your husband) have a family history of a major birth defect of some sort, it may mean that it is medically necessary to check on the baby again with an ultrasound. Hope this is helpful! Good luck!!!

There are still doctors out there that will not even order an ultrasound to find out the health of a baby if the person is on medicaid. The doctors reason that the mother is young and healthy and if she's not having symptoms he's worried about, then don't do one. That is DEAD WRONG. My neice just had a baby with a severe heart defect. If she had not had an ultrasound, the baby would have been born healthy looking. By the time they figured out what was wrong, he would have died. An ultrasound has saved his life, well so far anyway. He will have a lot of surgeries and issues to face. But without that ultrasound he wouldn't be here at all.

That said, you can get an ultrasound for 150 bucks in some places, not for health, but for fun. I got a wonderful 1 hour ultrasound for that and tons of pictures and an hour long DVD. It was 3d and so cool. The sex was no question what-so-ever.

I've never heard of theat except that maybe they won't do an ultra sound just to determine the sex of your babay. I was on medecaid for my daughter. At the 5mos/ 20 week ultra sound the technician told me what we saw, simple as that. No worries just enjoy being pregnant :)

I don't believe you can ask for an ultra-sound to be done for the sole purpose of finding out the sex, but it may be common practice to have an ultrasound between 18-22 weeks to check on the heath of the baby. If it's for medical reasons, maybe Medicare will pay. During that test, confidentially ask the technician if she can tell the sex of the baby. If that test doesn't occur, please don't get upset - it won't help you or the baby one little bit. It will just be another one of the special surprises with giving birth. You will find out your answer in a few months one way or another. Good luck!!

Medicaid does pay for that, always has, as it is just a simple matter of the Dr looking and telling you. You usually have to wait til you are further along than 9 wks, so maybe the Dr just meant that you couldn't sex the baby right at that moment. If the Dr is being a problem, just ask the nice person doing your next ultrasound, they will tell you, since sexing the baby doesn't cost extra, it's just the ultrasound that is expensive.

I was on medicaid with my first child in 1997 and we were able to find out the sex of the baby. I know several other people who have also been on Medicaid during pregnancy and I have never heard of such. Now I know that you can't have a 3-D or 4-D ultrasound but knowing the sex should be fine. That just sounds crazy to me.

DONT WORRY !!!!they are going to tell you around 5 months at not cost i have my 2 pregnancys with medicaid and they pay for everything

I have Medicaid and it covered finding out the sex of the baby. Maybe its different in other states or something. I didnt have to pay for anything at all that had to do with my pregnancy. I got 4 ultrasounds.

I never heard of such a thing. My daughter had Medicaid when she had her children and she was able to tell the sex from her ultrasound. As matter a fact my 21 year old is expecting now and her doctor has schedule her for an ultrsound on June 20 so he can see what the sex of the baby is and she is on medicaid. I would look into this more and not just take the doctor words on this.

yes medicaid will pay for the ultrasound at the doctors office, you have to be 20 wks pregnant for the sex to show up.

9 months is definitely too early to determine sex however, should you get a 20 wk scan (which would be pretty routine for a lot of practitioners) you can simply ask and really, they should tell you what they see. They are simply looking for is signs of male or female anatomy and you can often see for yourself if you take a look at the scanned image. Have you thought about going to a health clinic instead of using a doctor as this is not something you need a doctor to do (it is the job of an ultrasound technician). On a side note, I would be a little conservative with how many ultrasounds you get.