Question for a Friend Who Desperately Needs Help!!!

She could get a 0% interest credit card and divide the payments out on that. I had a friend that paid for her c-section that way.

With my 2nd child I had the same dilemna. I found Jean Sala at Inanna Birth and Womens Care in Denton. She is a midwife and let me pay it out in payments before my baby was born, I paid around $3000. She will work with you. Here is the website http://www.inannabirth.com/contact.html.

She could use a midwife and birth center, they only run several thousand dollars in total, including all prenatal and postpartum visits... unless there's an emergency that sends her to the ER...

Hi L.,
There is a clinic that is located on Great Britton Rd. here in irving it is a clinic that Baylor Medical Center at Irving is in partners with Parkland. It's a womens' clinic they see you there for prenatal care. As well, if you don't have a OB doctor you may want to call 1-800-4baylor and they can help you find a doctor as well as where to go to get prenatal care. Since, you have had a miscarriage you need to see a doctor soon. You just tell them what you are looking for and they will help. FYI: I do know that Dr. Livingston's group will see patients who are this far along and they too have a program where you can setup to make payments to them. You just need to call their office and speak with one of the doctors or nurses and just tell them what you need. I hope this helps let me know if I can be anymore help to you. Just email back. Also, FYI Baylor Medical Center @Irving: if for some reason you feel sick or you know something is not right go to the nearest ER and they will check you out if you need to be seen by a doctor they will send you to the labor & delivery floor to be seen and examined. Hope this helps you. Good Luck!

Congratulations to you and your husband on your new baby.

L.,

I see you got a lot of responses here. Yes, Parkland and Medicaid are definitely an option. But I can also offer another one.I market a medical and dental plan which means we have already gone in and negotiated lower pricing with our providers. We have a great contract with Lab Corp for all bloodwork and pathology, and we have a Hospital Advocacy program which will do the negotiations for them on the hospital bill. Tell her she can call me and I will send her some information or she can go to my website which is www.debbiekinder.net My plan is $39.95 a month for everything or $29.95 for just medical. she can reach me at ###-###-####
Be glad to help, been saving lots of money for years with my plan.

D. Kinder

What about a birthing center. I know when I went it was going to be 3500 including all prenatal care. Innana is in Denton. If nothing else atleast your friend can see a midwife for the rest of her prenatal?

I used a midwife with all my babies. The last one (2 years ago) charged me less than $3500 for the entire thing, including all doctors visits, tests, and delivery. She was wonderful and it was very positive. (We also were without insurance at the time.) I had him at the birthing center in Dallas.

VickiS

You say they make to much to qualify for medicaid, how do they know? Have they applied, because the income guidelines for medicaid for pregnant women are different than the income guidelines for childrens medicaid. There is also, as the other poster stated, a CHIP program with even broader income limits. There are programs out there and a medicaid case worker would help them find some kind of help. Most doctors offices will take payments provided you sign some kind of agreement, and keep up with the payments when you go in to see the dr monthly.

We had to pay cash for our 2nd and 3rd. My doctor gave me a good discount and had to be paid in full by the 7th month. I got to pay it out as I could until then. We set up a payment plan with the hospital and unfortunately are still making payments. Not the best way, but with no insurance and high cost of medical care you do what you have to. It all worked out!

Wish her the best,
C.

I have paid out-of-pocket for both my kids. My OB-GYN had a flat rate which we paid off before the birth. The hospital offered to cut our bill in half if we paid before we left the hospital. Our first son was less than $5,000 but our second was expensive as he was a breech baby and had to be delivered by C-section.

It can be done but you need to call around to various hospitals to find out what they offer.

Midwife fees are alot cheaper and she can be follwed and check monthly for any problems

The hospital probably has some charities that would be willing to look at their case. It never hurts to ask, or fill out the proper paper work for a chance. Just ask the patment department of he hospital.
I suggest start saving now. Every month, or every time they get paid, they need to be putting away a lump sum of money to go towards their medical bills.

Everything in healthcare is negotiable. If she will call several doctors and discuss a cash price she can most likely get her dr. visits down to around $50 per visit, also she needs to ask if her doctor they do global billing. What than means is, they don't charge anything until the delivery and then it's all due at once. If she will call around to the hospitals and discuss a cash price with them she will find that the average cost for a baby under a cash bases is between $3800 and $5000, so it's actually cheeper to have a baby without insurance if you know how to work the system. If she still has questions I am a licensed Insurace Agent and I am more than willing to help her understand how the system works.You can get my contact information at www.covenanthl.com. Hope this helps clear up some stuff.

Has she considered having her baby at home with a midwife? She still needs to see an OB during the months to approve of such a thing. I know two gals that did just that and loved it. One had three babies at home. An experienced midwife is the key. I had my baby in a German hospital and they used midwives.

Also, have her prepared to apply for Medicaid for the baby. She may not qualify but the baby probably will.

Speak with the hospital upfront and see if they will discount her bill and also the doctors if she can pay upfront for her services. Ask them to offer her an insurance discount - that means she would pay the same amount as an insurance company that is contracted. Some docs will say no but some really want to help people and deliver babies and might consider it as long as your friend keep their credit and payments up front. (Might need a down payment).
Also, ask the hospital for a payment plan.
Also ask if there are charity options. Sometimes the hospitals are aware of people that assist others in this situation. So, speak with the hospital financial adviser.

My last recommendation, write your congressman and ask for a nationwide insurance plan for those who couldn't normally afford insurance. A plan that would cost less each month and insure millions of people in one group and next time, vote for Hilary! She believes in taking care of the mothers in our nation. :)
C.

I also did not have insurance and my although it seems overwhelming tell her not to go without care. Any docs office will set up a payment plan and the hospital that she wants to deliver at will tell her that she needs to make a down payment before her delivery but I did not and they cannot refuse service - they will bill you afterwards. My daughter is now nine months old and I am making monthly payments on my hospital bill. I ended up having a c-section which is the most costly part of it all but my total hospital bill was 2600 plus the cost of anesthesia. I also choose Baylor Grapevine to have my little one and it is a little more expensive. I would tell her to get in and see a doctor right away. In fact - Womens Integrated Healthcare in Grapevine is who I went to and they had no problem with working out a payment plan.

it might be a little better for her to go on disability and try and get some assistance that way.

What we did this time around, because my insurance isn't the greatest is to pay private pay through the doctor and it was cheaper. They just have you pay a discounted rate for everything and you have to have it paid by a certain time in your pregnancy. This covers all the doctor expenses. Then you just pay a discounted rate for all labwork and sonos. As for the actual hospital, here in Granbury, they let you pay a discount as well, although I don't know much about that.
I am using my insurance for the hospital and was told that I could go in and pay 350 and that was it for having the baby and just pay for the anestesia, if I get it. I would advise your friend to look into paying a discounted rate with her doctor. My husband and I figured out it was cheaper to pay private pay than to actually do it through my insurance! It is going to cost us about 3500 or so to have the baby. Good luck to your friend!

My husband and I are self-employed and we have insurance through a company called cinergy health. The company will accept new clients even if the client is currently pregnant.

I don't really have any experience with this, but I do know that there is the Pregnancy and Family Care Center located on the northwest corner of Coit and Arapaho in the Spanish Village shopping center in North Dallas. They can offer free sonograms just to make sure that the baby is healthy and they might know of some options for working out a payment plan with a hospital. I'm sure they have a working relationship with some doctors or hospitals.

I had my last child with no insurance too. Now I don't know were are you located but I'm denton,tx. A friend told me that you can talk to the hospital in getting started on paying for your stay at the hopital. So what I did I went to the hospital to the human resources department and they help me out they gave me in amount that I had to pay before having the baby and everything that was included in the package. of course if is normal the amount will be different from a c-section. So I paid an amount of around $2,500 for hospital only. In my understood if you wait after she has the baby she will end up paying around 11,000 and thats alot of money. Go and talk to the hospital and see what they say tell them your situation.

I am so glad you asked this question!

I didn't read all the responses, but I learned a lot from the ones I did read! Amazing and encouraging.

Kudos to you, L., for asking this question on behalf of your friend. This might help her greatly!

Have her look into birthing centers.

In the state of Texas, it doesn't matter the income...all pregnant women are eligible for Medicaid. I don't know why this is such a big secret. You can even have private insurance and get medicaid to suppliment it.

Human error is the only reason for a pregnant woman to get turned down for medicaid. I have seen it happen before, just reapply and it goes through.

All pregnant women are eligible!

Have her check out birthing centers. Birthing Center of Allen is great. Cost is very low they do all prenatal care and deliver at the center or if you are close enough at home. (I would prefer to give birth at the center just because they have everything in case of an emergency). They also will not take any chances if a problem arises they will transfer you to a hospital. I had all three of my children in a hospital setting but with out any pain medications or epidural. They do offer some pain medications at the birthing center but not epidurals. At Allen birthing center the midwifes are very experienced and careful. I also know of a birthing center down by downtown Baylor. ( I am an neonatal RN)

I would also recommend checking with a midwife or birth center. I also do not have medical insurance & we make too much to qualify for Medicaid. I used Kathleen Mayorga (www.bellabirths.com) for my son born 9/07. I am currently 35 weeks pregnant with my second. I had a great experience with a homebirth. The cost is around $3000. (more or less if you pay a lump sum or make payments.) She is moving to the Allen Birth Center which I have heard several people recommend. There is an additional fee to deliver at a birth center. I feel very comfortable with a homebirth since she brings assistants and all the same supplies she uses at the birth center. She previously worked more than 10 years in El Paso as a labor & delivery nurse. If there was an emergency or reason to transfer to a hospital, they can't refuse service. Most hospitals will work out a payment plan if you don't have insurance.

CHIPS has a pregnancy program as well with a lot broader financial guidelines than Medicaid.

Other than that, going and talking to the doctor and hospital and seeing what kind of rate they can work out is her only other option.

L.,

My suggestion is to try and apply for Medicaid. I was laid off back in December and I was almost 20 weeks pregnant. My husband's employer didn't offer health insurance for spouse and family...they did but it would cost about $1500.00 a month. Since I had insurance through my job...I thought I'd just try to apply for Medicaid. I got approved for pregnancy medicaid...which will cover me from the time I applied until 2 months after my baby is born. So I will have coverage for almost a year. Now, because of my husband's income, we didn't qualify for Medicaid for our other children. But the Medicaid office did approve us for CHIPS Insurance. They handled all the application process, and all I had to do was pick a pedi (thank God our pedi takes CHIPS!) and send back the forms with my signature. We had to pay a one time fee...which was under $50, and my kids had coverage! The benefits are great too.
I would encourage her to at least try. And if it comes down to it...many OB's offer a cash payment option. I worked at a local hospital for 7 years...we had plenty of patients come through as cash pay...and we worked with them. So reassure her that it's going to be OK. It will work out. Feel free to contact me if she needs anything else...I know a few doctors and even have contacts at the hospital where I worked.

L.,

Your friend has more options than you think. For starters I'm not sure who her doctor is, but she can discuss this with her doctor and they frequently give a cash-pay discount and let you play it out. As long as she is making the effort to make a payment her OB will continue to keep her as a patient.

As far as the facility goes....a hospital cannot deny care due to an inability to pay. She can also set up a payment plan to pay out her stay. Additionally she can discuss this with her provider so that they minimize all unnecessary interventions to save some cash.

Another very viable option is for your friend to consider being under the care of a certified nurse midwife in a birthing center for her pregnancy and birth. Birthing centers are safe and are much lower in cost. I don't know what type of birth your friend is planning for, but the support of a certified nurse midwife is a great option.

I come to you as an RN who has worked in OB/GYN medicine for 3 years and I am also a birth doula. Please feel free to contact me if your friend would like my help finding a reputable midwife and birth center in her area.

Best of luck to her!
J.

She should really look into going to a birth center with a certified nurse midwife. I'm currently 4 months pregnant and am going to The Birth and Women's Center on Swiss Ave in Dallas. It may be a haul for her, but the ENTIRE cost for having a baby there is about $4300 and they offer great payment plans as well. That includes all your visits, blood tests, and delivery. Should something happen and you need to be transferred to a hospital, Baylor is right outside the door. I had my first son there and it was a wonderful experience. Also, in the state of TX pregnancy is not a pre-existing condition. She can get coverage even tho she is already pregnant. I would encourage her to go to esurance.com and find a single person policy that includes maternity. Her deductible will be high, but at least she would have coverage if she needs to be transferred to a hospital. I actually found one for $161 (thru Aetna) per month that covers her and the baby if there are pregnancy complications. I hope this helps!

Did she negotiate directly with the doctor? I know people who have gotten a price break for dealing with the doctor directly, and since the doctor doesn't have to got through insurance, it costs less.

She may not be interested in this at all but then again she might be.
I had my baby at a birthing center with a midwife and several assistants. There are several birthing centers all over the metroplex. This may sound scary to some but statistically it is actually safer than a hospital birth. Remember it is always free to contact and interview a midwife. If she tries it out and is not comfortable then nothing is lost. She can also see one for prenatal appointments and change her mind later as well.
The total cost for my:
prenatal care including any testing
labor support
delivery
newborn exam/testing
postpartum care and support up to 3 months
breastfeeding support
was $3,000
That amount was paid out over the course of my care. That is a lot cheaper than hospital care.
If she would like any further information I would be happy to speak with her and answer any concerns. There is a huge community of us out here. You will find endless support and information that I can direct you to. Just send me a private message.

She needs to go to the Health Center for Women, which is the JPS clinic for women, it's located right behind JPS. You can go there no matter what - whether you have insurance or not. Since she does not, the social worker will help her get classified, which is how they determine how much she pays in co-pays. It doesn't take long. Then she will go there for her prenatal visits, and they can even help her get set up with a pediatrician in the network for the baby. Everyone imagines JPS to be some awful place, but the delivery suites are really nice - they were just redone a few years ago I think. They have an amazing NICU - one of the best in town. The only part that's not great is you have to share a postpartum room, but you're not there long - and she won't pay much for it. If she doesn't qualify for medicaid, she also needs to go to her closest WIC office - she may already qualify for some grocery assistance, and once the baby is born, she will qualify for more if she is nursing, or formula if she isn't. It's a great program as well.

The only advice that I have is CHIP perinatal - http://www.hhsc.state.tx.us/chip/perinatal/index.htm

and some women successfully negotiate with their doctors or hospitals to pay either a cash discount rate or, at the very least, the insurance negotiated rate, for care and delivery.

In addition, EMTALA requires that any emergency room provide stabilizing care for anyone who shows up, including a pregnant woman and her unborn child (i.e. labor & delivery, C/S) regardless of their ability to pay. It is one reason that illegal immigrants can cross the border, deliver in a US hospital, wait for the baby's papers, and then go home without money.

S.

Hi L.,
You are a great friend for caring so much. Has your friend ever considered using a midwife? Even though she had a miscarraige they have the knowledge, experience and equipment to handle her pregnancy.

There are also nurse midwives that work more closely with doctors and hospitals.

Both of these options are much less expensive and more memorable because of the level of care that she will receive. I used Amy Allred of Family Birth Services for all 4 of my pregnancies and even had 3 home births with no complications.

Just look into it. It may be exactly what she is looking for.

Well, let me assure you that JPS is an excellent place to have a baby. I worked in the newborn nursery for several years there. So, assure your friend that she is not "settling" by going to JPS. Also, it is not uncommon for first pregnancies to end in miscarriage. So, just because she had one miscarriage does not ensure that she will have trouble with this pregnancy. And since she is almost 5 months along and has only had one visit, it seems that this pregnancy has been pretty uneventful. Has she tried for medicaid? There are new programs for women through chips and also through medicaid for women that don't qualify for regular medicaid. If she has ANY problems at all she can go to OB Triage on the second floor of JPS and they will see her there. She may have to stay on top of the financial people at JPS to get the answers to her questions. There are also private doctors that will allow patients to pay out the cost of her pregnancy. She could also see about using a midwife at a birthing center. The cost of using a midwife for delivery is about $4,000. The issue that she may come into with is how far along she is in her pregnancy. Sorry this seems kind of rambling, but hopefully I have helped answer your questions. Good luck to your friend and give her my congratulations.

A.

I think she can go to Parkland, and depends income they make a plan for her,then, when the baby born she can apply for madicare, and i think she can got it 4 sure.
Good look to your friend and congratulation for the baby!!!!

As a nurse at Baylor, in women's services, I know that your friend could go to JPS or Parkland for prenatal care and they can not turn her away. While these hospitals are not always the ideal situation for care, it is better than not receiving care at all. While the general public may not understand all of the possible things that can happen during pregnancy, for Mom and Baby, as a nurse I do. I think that anyone who chooses not to get prenatal care is taking a huge risk with their life and that of their child. Also, just FYI, some hospitals will not allow mother's without prenatal care to receive epidurals for delivery. Please encourage your friend to call one of these community hospitals and get an appointment to be seen. They can not refuse her!!

Make sure they go to the medicaid office and fill out the paper work to see if they qualify.I wasnt sure we would qualify my husband was making $12 an hour.They counted us as a family of three because i was pregnant.If they cant help they usually have counselors that will give advice.Also maybe she could go on maturnity leave and then her income wouldnt count for that time perriod.They make pregnant women their proirity at medicaid so if she hasnt gone tell her to give it a try

Pregnancy was not considered a pre-existing condition for my insurance. She might look into getting insurance.

Unless she were on a group policy through an employer, she wouldn't have coverage for the pregnancy anyways. Best advice I can offer is to NEGOTIATE!!! Yes, they will do this... The doctor and the hospital! The hospital offered to do my delivery for $2000. I said NO because I had insurance. They then billed my insurance company over $30,000 and I still end up paying over the $2000 they offered. I have now begun negotiating with all medical treatments needed! I'm an insurance agent here in Texas and I would strongly recommend request negotiations on costs for the delviery and the sooner the better. She needs to be under regular monthly care, as we all know!

Hopefully they atleast tried Medicaid to cover the pregnancy ONLY. When I had my first child, we were making quite a bit of money but they look at pregnancy different than just regular old medicaid. If she hasn't applied, I would highly recommend atleast contacting your local Medicaid office and finding out what the financial guidelines are. They look at more than just your monthly income. They also look at other financial responsibilities; home, auto, bill, credit cards and lots more!!!

Just so you know, I HAD insurance both times I was pregnant and NEITHER ONE would pay maternity (none, even WITH Insurance: this is legal as long as the insurance is not offered through as company of more than 50 employees) so I PAID BOTH BABIES OUT OF POCKET (and we are not independantly wealthy by any means: we both work and have college/car/house loans to pay as well as plenty of other bills) BUT.....................we paid the same price or about that for our two babies that we would have EVEN HAD WE HAD MATERNITY INSURANCE COVG!!!! I will tell you how!
If you find a dr that will let you set up a pay-it-out plan (as I found), she can get great care for the same price, just a bit more, or, even possible, less than she would had she had insurance (given no complications arise, which would also make bills go up). My son is now almost 2 and we paid only about $7000 for him total (both dr and hospital) because we set up a cash pay before he was born both at the drs. office and the hospital. The hospital gave us a 40% discount because we paid up front (no paper work and hassel for them and no bill after delivery: he was paid) and the dr. charged us about 50% of an insured bill.
Just because you have insurance does not mean you pay less to have a baby.
Insurance can really be a scam: the insurace co nickle and dime drs. and hospitals to death so the dr/hospital has to over-charge on items to compensate what the insurance comapny will refuse to pay for. That is why the office is ofen glad to give a discount to individuals. They will pay and the hassell is FAR less than dealing with insurance!

Don't believe me? Tell your friend to call the hospital's financial aid dept for consultation and see what can be offered! I gurantee they will at least give a 10% discount below what they would charge an insurance company for the same birth!

GOOD LUCK and you can pm me for details if you like! Both of my babies were actually CHEAPER to pay out of pocket than what we would have HAD to pay had we had maternity coverage through the same insurance company that my policy was through (my specific policy did not cover maternity), granted I and baby had no complications through birth.

L.,
You've gotten a lot of wonderful advice here, but just in case, I thought I'd add one more suggestion... If your friend doesn't desire a birthing center (or worries about encountering complications that require hospital stay) and doesn't have the funds to negotiate with doctors and hospitals, she might consider having her husband get a second job. I couldn't tell if their jobs don't offer insurance at all or if they just didn't purchase it because it was expensive, but either way, she could still get insurance. If there is an open enrollment period soon on either plan they should look at that. Pregnancy can NEVER be considered a pre-existing condition. However, as you stated, individual ins policies don't have to cover it and don't have to accept her while she is pregnant. Group plans are different. If there is a valid enrollment window (either through new employment or open enrollment), they have to accept her. So, if their current employers aren't an option, the second job route might work. I know some companies used to offer insurance for part-time workers although most have probably done away with that by now. I know Target used to until about 2003. Even if it has to be full-time for the next 6 months or so, they should consider it if they aren't able to pay for it another way. But if he can find a second job to work nights/weekends that would offer insurance, that would be an option.

I know this is tough for her and they have a lot of hard decisions to make in the coming months, but even if they do come up with insurance in a few months, she should really get prenatal care now however she can. Good luck.

A Christian midwife will probably see her on a visit by visit basis. My own daughter had this problem, and she went to the midwife who delivered my son. She told her she did not intend to have the baby at home, when she went into labor, she was just going to show up at the hospital, because she knew they could not turn her away (she also told the hospital this, and they ended up working with her). The midwife can do all her prenatal, so I would suggest she call around.

They might could get insurance thru CHIPS it not free like medicaid but like $20 a month and its coverage is like medicaid. It's a step up from medicaid. People who don't qualify for medicaid sometimes qualify for CHIPS.

Wow...you have gotten some wonderful advice from the ladies on the message board. I am currently 8 1/2 months pregnant and by no means independently wealthy and am having a baby without maternity insurance. My husband is self employed and we have insurance through him but it does not cover the cost of maternity. My employer doesn't pay maternity leave either so we have run into some tough situations lately but listen to the advice of these women for your friend. Paying cash opens up doors. The doc and hospital...everyone offers a very big discount or flat fee that can be paid out in monthly payments to help with the cost.....my doc charged 3200.00 for the ob cost...due by the 7th month and the hospital charged 3000.00 for baylor all saints due by the 7 month....everyone is negotiable and i am sure if she called around that different doctors/hospitals will give different discounts i have just gone to my doc for past 10 yrs...so couldn't see switching....anyways....you save a ton of money when you pay cash and what we realized is that before i switched to my hubby's insurance i was paying 700.00 a month for insurance....now we are saving about 500.00 a month and if i were to take that and multiply the savings over 10 months and add the out of pocket and the deductible my old insurance required us to pay that i am actually saving about 5-6000 by paying cash...is crazy...right? good luck to your friend and best wishes on everything!!!!

Larrisa, seems you have gotten alot of great responses so far. Some hospitals have womens clinics. Get on the phone and check around. County hospitals for sure. I had a child at Parkland because of no insurance was not bad at all. Do some phone work,and for sure to have her to call her nearest WIC office and set appointment asap. There income bracket is a little higher than appling for medicaid. It helps. Good luck in finding help. God Bless. D. S.

My husband and I just had our beautiful baby girl June of '08. I didn't have insurance either and we are by NO MEANS "independently wealthy". I checked with insurance and I was unable to get any, but checked prices with maternity and it was OUTRAGEOUS anyway and some wouldn't even kick in until you had it for a year.

We called around to different hospitals and to different doctors and got prices. They all have a cash price because they know this happens. They understand these cirrcumstances and will work with her. Our doctor was 2700, that was with as many visits as I needed/wanted. It would have been 2100 but I ended up having to have a c-section.

The hospital had a "Craddle Club" which was their discount for non-insured people, which came with a carseat. It was I think 3400 for the c-section.

What people don't realize is that with paying cash for medical services you do not pay the same amount as insurance companies "pay". Our first pediactric visit with our daughter without insurance with $110 which included shots. We have since gotten ins and have gotten the amount sent to the ins comp for the same services and it was about 4-500!

Anyway, tell her not to stress out. Just start making phone calls and get prices. Not sure where you live, but we live in a rural area and it was alot cheaper here, I checked with surrounding towns. And the service could not have been better! I was very please!! Good luck to her!

We had a boy in 2007 in Denton without ins. and the hospital's cash pay was 3,500 vaginal and 5,500 C-section. The doctor was about 3,000 for all of the visits and the C-section and 2 post delivery visits. The anesthesiologist and labs were extra but everyone will give you a %20 or %30 discount if you're paying cash. They don't have to deal with the Ins. companies that way.

Get a midwife and do a birthing center birth or a home birth with a midwife! You'll probably pay $2,000-$3,000 but it's a tax deduction for next year. And it's much safer than a hospital birth that progresses to tubes and medications and injections and all kinds of harmful medical interventions. Sell extra stuff on craigslist or a garage sale to pile up as much cash in savings as possible- even an extra job or extra hours if possible. Of course, you could always get a loan for that amount, but in any economy, especially a bad one, you don't want to be paying on a loan for your child for the next couple years. Tell her to be creative, think outside the box, and research, research, research- there are plenty of options out there. Look up the benefits of having a midwife and look up the risks of having a hospital birth. Finally, relax and smile and don't stress- that's worse on your health than anything!

Yes, an absolutely frustrating situation since I just had a baby having lost COBRA coverage one month earlier! Here are the fees to take into consideration:

OB costs
Anesthesia costs
Hospital costs
Pediatrician costs
Hearing screen
Lab costs (some hospitals now have a "bundle" cost that includes meds and labs done)

I advise do ALL the cost research before having a baby because most facilities will have a discounted rate for cash-paying people. And they incentivize (lower rates) if you pay earlier than later. The hospital should have all the contact details for which anesthesiologist,... they use so you can do all the research. I also ended up getting back-up insurance through the Texas High Risk Pool (http://www.txhealthpool.com/) which is part of BLue Cross Blue Shield Texas. Although pregnancy is still a pre-existing condition and they won't cover normal vaginal or elective C-sections, they'll cover any emergency situations. Which turned out to benefit me because I ended up having a last- minute C-section because baby was a surprise breech. Deductible is kinda high but at least it saved us additional surgery costs afterwards.

I wish your friend best of luck! It's better to be informed than receive mounds of bills later!!

Midwives are MUCH less expensive than going the hospital and doctor route and just as safe. I would strongly encourage your friend to check into find one.

At five months, she probably does not have to worry about a miscarriage. I used a midwife and they are much less expensive. It is a wonderful experience to have the baby naturally and at home. I loved it. I have used Kathleen Mayorga for my last two children.
Also, if you pay the doctor and hospital up front, you can get quite a discount. I'm not sure who medicaid helps but, I was working two jobs waiting tables while I was pregnant and I did not qualify.

I just had a baby at Presby Dallas. We do not have insurance and I had to have a c- section. It cost us about $10,000. What most people fail to realize is that it's roughly the same price as having insurance. This is because of all of the "cash" disocunts available, cash also meaning check and credit cards. Doctors are more than willing to work with you because they do not have to deal with the insurance companies and they get their $ almost immediately. The hospital also has many differnet payment plan options. They know they are not going to get thousands of dollars at one time (usually). They offer a huge discount. I think it's like 30%( this is what it was 5 months ago). We were going to get insurance but after having the baby we realized that it is just as much to have insurance. I paid less for my birth than my girlfriend did delivering a month earlier with insurance.

I had insurance, but in the 36th week of my pregnancy (after doing months of research) decided the safest route for me was a birthing center. I choose Inanna Birthing Center in Denton and had the most amazing birth experience I could have ever imagined. I know it is much cheaper than a hospital birth (due to the lack of unnecessary interventions)and the emotional/physical support was priceless. If your friend is interested in this alternative approach (well, alternative in the U.S. -- women in other western and non-western nations have the largest percentages of their births with a mid-wife) and has a normally progressing pregnancy, I would highly recommend Inanna. The Center offers free tours and will sit and is eager to answer any and all of your concerns. Best wishes in helping your friend!

R.

Hi L.,
My husband and I are self employed and have no insurance either. We absolutely could not afford to have a baby at a hospital with all the costs, but make too much money (according to the gov't) to qualify for JPS. I chose to do all of my prenatal visits and my delivery with a midwife at a birthing center. The cost for absolutely everything was about $4000 (compared to over $10000 for a hospital). Yes, I delivered naturally with no meds and it was tough but a very wonderful experience. I am so happy that is the way I chose to do it. I went to Inanna Birthing Center in Denton. I live in FtWorth, so it was quite a drive but totally worth it. I would highly recommend looking into the birthing center option. There are a few around the metroplex. Please contact me if you have more questions :)

In Texas pregnancy is no longer considered a pre-existing condition. Unless there is a clause that pregnancy isn't covered for a year (which some independent insurance companies do) she should be able to get coverage. If her husbands job offers insurance they should probably take it even if it's expensive because it will be worth it to be on a group plan. If they want to use independent insurance after the baby is born they can always switch. You never know what could happen. My insurance didn't cover my pregnancy including my c-section, but my baby was premature and she was in NICU. They did cover her because she was a "person" and not part of my pregnancy anymore. Thank God because her NICU bill was $26,000.