Switching health insurance plans during pregnancy?
Here is the story.. Both my wife and I work and have own health insurance plans though companies. I planned to switch her to my plan during the open enrollment in August as mine offers better benefits and it would be effective from September 1. Now, we just learned that my wife is 4-week pregnant. Will we have any trouble claiming for the pregnancy-related bills from my health insurance provider (Blue Cross Blue Shield) after the switch? Another question is that, the first doctor's visit is coming up in a few weeks. Could my wife use her insurance for the first visit, then use my insurance after the switch for subsequent visits as well as the baby delivery? Thanks!
Public Comments
- Insurance companies cannot, by federal law, state pregnancy as a 'preexisting condition' - so, there should be no problem switching her over and having it covered. The main thing is, make sure her current doctor takes your insurance.
- This is really a question best answered by your human resources dept and the person there in charge of insurances, but I had a similar situation and had no problems. As long as you had a prior insurance company and are just changing plans there is usually no problem, some companies won't cover "pre-existing" conditions - which this pregnancy would be, so you need to be totally sure. When in doubt, call the number on the back of your card and talk to a customer service representative. Good luck and God Bless.
- I don't think you'll have a problem. You can call your insurance to be 100% sure. But we had problems with pregnancy being a pre-existing condition back in 1996. It was very frustraiting (not to mention there was a little more to this scenario that I won't go into here). But it was a short time after that, that the government made it so that insurance companies could no longer consider pregnancy a pre-existing condition. I remember this happening because we had just had the trouble just before hand.
- YES insurance companies CAN state pregnancy as a pre-existing condition!! at least in PA they can, b/c i went through this exact same thing recently; i was about 11 weeks along when i switched insurance; they told me not to see a doctor until the insurance was switched except in case of emergency; since my doctor doesnt normally schedule a first prenatal appt until12 weeks anyway, i had no problems. your best bet; call the insurance she will be going on, and ask them how their policy on this works. that will be the only way to know 100% for sure; just like i was on medicaid, and they dropped me during my pregnancy even though i was told i wouldnt be dropped during pregnancy. so, really youll get the best and straight answers from the insurance company itself. good luck and congrats on the baby!!
- I highly doubt you will be able to add her onto your insurance policy now that she is pregnant. The only time I know of that an insurance company will allow this is if your wife is on your policy and your company switches group insurance companies. Insurance companies DO consider pregnancy a pre-existing condition...which means this pregnancy will not be covered. Insurance is regulated at the state level so it is important for you to check with your insurance company for your state (certain states may not consider pre-existing condition). The first answerer provided a link that explains when it can be done...unfortunately, your situation does not fit into these guidelines.
- I work in an agency and the best answer that I can give you is that depending on the policy and coverage limits, there may be a "waiting period" on maternity coverage. While it may not be considered pre-existing, it may have a clause saying that they will not cover maternity issues for a certain amount of time...mostly it is 6 or 12 months. Be really careful to ask your agent about that because pre-existing and waiting period are 2 COMPLETELY different situations. Hope that helps
