Love Your OB or Midwife? Hate Them? Let Everyone know!

I came across this survey and thought it was a great idea so I will share it with everyone. As you all know, I am all about being thrifty but part of being thrifty is choosing to spend your money wisely. I find it very frustrating that I can look up the ratings of a new TV but I can't look up the ratings of a doctor or midwife. When it comes to birth, whether you have health insurance or not, you will probably have to spend some money when everything is said and done. So why can't I get a quality review? Well now you can! The Birth Survey lets you look up the ratings for doctors and midwives that other women have rated. I think this is a really great idea but it takes some effort on your behalf so that more doctors and midwifes will be rated. The survey is anonymous and takes about 30 minutes depending on your answers. Did you have a wonderful experience with your doctor or midwife and want to encourage more woman to see them? Or maybe you had an awful experience and want everyone to stay away from that person. Either way let everyone know about it! We (women) as consumers of birth care deserve to know the quality of our caregivers.

High Risk Pregnancy with No Health Insurance

So you just found out that for whatever reason, you have a high risk pregnancy and you have no health insurance. The first thing you should do is look in to getting state insurance. Even if you have already tried, please read what I have to say because you may yet find out that you qualify for something or more then they gave you. I was very blessed with my pregnancy in that I had no complications that came up. I did however discover that the path to getting health insurance from your state is a lot more complicated then the workers that “help” you to get this insurance would make it seem. After the birth of my son (at home) I had post labor hemorrhaging. My midwife took care of it but I did have to go to the hospital to get a blood test done to see if I needed a blood transfusion. It turned out that I did not but what I did get was a nice bill from the hospital for $3300 for the room I stayed in for 2 hours (I should have gotten a lot better service for that price, can you say penthouse?) and a blood test. I also got a phone call from this wonderful lady that worked with the hospital that showed me how to qualify for state insurance to pay for my bill. I live in Washington State so I do not know the universality of my advice but I think that everyone should at least take a look at it.

1. After you have applied to get the state insurance and they deny you or give you a “spend down” pick up the phone and give who ever is in charge of your case a call. Ask them questions! If you were denied, ask by how much, ask if they do spend down amounts (it is like a deductible), ask if you can reapply if your income changes, ask anything that you can think of! I did not do this and paid the price. I was put on a spend down of $4500. This would be nothing for a typical hospital birth but it was a lot of money for me. If you have a high risk pregnancy you really need some insurance so ask. The workers may or may not just tell you these rules. I know the guy I worked with did not tell me anything I did not ask about.
2. Once you have the insurance, it can not be taken away. My husband works a job that pays him by the hour. Some months he gets a lot, some months he gets a little, it just depends. I did not understand that if I could do without a little one month and qualify, that it would not be taken away from me the next month if he made more money. All I would have had to do is have my husband work no overtime one month and reapply. We would have been in and I would not have had to pay for anything else. So if you don’t qualify by just a bit, consider cutting your work hours a little for one month, then reapply.
3. Even if you have just had the baby or are close to having the baby apply or reapply. Don’t wait. In my state you only have 60 days to apply. If you are able to get the insurance for the month of the birth, even if it is past that month, the state will cover all charges that month. It is not like commercial health insurance, it is retro active to the time the coupon is for. Most of the charges you have will have come from the birth itself.
4. Even if you get a spend down reapply if there is any change in your income. Getting your spend down lowered will save you month so it is worth the trouble.
5. If all else fails and you have a big bill on your table call the hospital. My hospital had a woman that was in charge of getting pregnant women and children insurance though the state. It is so great having someone like that (that knows the system) on your side. They are there to help so let them do their job.

I hope this helps someone. Hopefully someday, all of my advice will be obsolete because no one will be without health insurance of some kind but until then good luck! If anyone else has tips (maybe from other state systems) I would love it if you would share them.