3 Point Important Mom's Get Insurance While Pregnant

Health insurance covers many services for pregnant women, including prenatal care and obstetrics.

Review various insurance plan summaries when deciding on a health insurance plan. Each state has different options.

If you're concerned about paying for insurance, pregnancy insurance options include Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

Health insurance (also called medical insurance or health plan) helps you pay for medical care. Health insurance is very important for you, especially if you are pregnant.

What health services are covered for a pregnant woman?

After passage of the Affordable Care Act (also known as the ACA), the Health Care Act requires all insurance plans on the Health Insurance Marketplace (also known as the Marketplace) or Medicaid to cover many benefits for pregnant women. The Marketplace is an online resource to help you find and compare health plans in your state. These insurance plans cover services for pregnant women, including:

All check-ups without additional payment. Prenatal care is medical care during pregnancy. No co-payment means you don't have to pay your doctor every time you go for a prenatal exam. You can visit your prenatal care provider without a referral from a GP (who will provide you with basic health care). So you don't need to see your GP first to get permission to visit a prenatal care provider such as an obstetrician/gynecologist (also called an obstetrician/gynecologist), midwife, or nurse practitioner.

Labor and Birth Services

Breastfeeding assistance without additional payment. This includes visits to a lactation consultant, breastfeeding supplies and breast pumps. A lactation consultant is someone with special training in helping women breastfeed.

Birth Control.

Insurance plans in Marketplace and Medicaid must cover these benefits for everyone, including pregnant women:

• Regular health checks
• Check-ups when you are sick
• hospital care
• emergency services

The Health Act states that a plan does not:

1. Cancel your health insurance if you get sick
2. You charge more for health care because you are a woman
3. Charge you more for health care if you have had a medical condition in the past

Set a lifetime or yearly cap (limit) on coverage. This means that an insurance company cannot stop covering your medical expenses once they reach a certain amount of money. This also applies to your partner.

Have unlimited expenses paid out of pocket. Health insurers must set annual caps on their own health care costs. Once you hit the limit, the company has to pay your expenses for the rest of the year.

If you are pregnant, how do you know which health insurance to choose?

When you select your health plan, look at the plan summary. Each plan has a summary that includes the expected cost of pregnancy care. Each plan uses the same summary form, making it easy to compare costs and services. Visit the Health Insurance Marketplace for plan summaries. This is an online resource to help you find and compare health plans in your state. If you work, you can also have health insurance through your employer. Contact your employer to learn more about the plan summary and benefits.

Is It Okay To Be Pregnant If You Sign Up For A Health Plan?

Yes. You can be pregnant if you buy health insurance. In this case, pregnancy is referred to as a pre-existing condition. That means you had the condition (you were pregnant) before you signed up for health insurance. Under the Health Care Act under the ACA, insurance companies cannot deny you coverage or charge you more money to take care of pre-existing medical conditions.

What if you need help paying for health insurance?

In most states, many pregnant women can get Medicaid insurance. Medicaid is a government program that provides free or low-cost health insurance to people on low incomes. In some states, pregnant women who earn too much for Medicaid can get health insurance through the Children's Health Insurance Program (also called CHIP). CHIP is a government program that provides health insurance to some children and pregnant women in families who earn too much to get Medicaid but cannot afford private insurance. You can apply for Medicaid and CHIP at any time.

Even if you can't get Medicaid, you may still be able to get tax credits that you can use to pay for insurance through your state's marketplace. Information on health plans and costs for pregnant women can be obtained from the marketplace in your state. Be sure to indicate that you are pregnant in the Marketplace application to receive pregnancy information.