Insurance for baby

[Deleted]

Since there's an ongoing discussion about pediatricians, I thought this was relevant and needed it's own thread. 

What have you done or what are you doing about getting health insurance for your baby?

Right now DH and I are insured through my employer. The price to add the baby will cost me an additional $600/month out of pocket, since I would have to change to a family plan. The cost of the family plan is the same whether you have 1 baby or 6.  So now I'm looking into getting the baby her own insurance, but I am overwhelmed and not even sure where to start!

[jcprn]

Eek! This is overwhelming to me. We'll just be adding Baby to my insurance and DH is on mine also.

[tjanca22]

Wow! That is a major jump in cost!! Having 6 kids to make it worth it is probably the option you don't want to go with?!? DH and I have separate insurance with our respective companies. It is actually cheaper for us if I get my own insurance and DH gets his own insurance. I will be adding LO to mine and will only pay self+child which is much cheaper than self+family which would cost us an arm and a leg.

Do either of your companies offer a benefit where you would get paid to go on the other person's insurance? For example, my Dad's company pays him $100 a month to not use insurance. My Mom then covers both of them. It is actually cheaper for them since my dad gets reimbursed from his company.

[mrsdee1982]

I am so thankful for my company and its amazing insurance plan.

My company pays for my insurance in full. I have no premium for just me. Same for DH's company. They pay for his insurance in full.
We compared our coverage, and we both have almost identical coverage. So then we just had to figure out the costs to add baby.

To add baby to DH insurance, it would cost us $170 per paycheck (he gets paid every other week). To add baby to my insurance, it will only cost $81.50 per paycheck (I get paid twice a month). We're adding her to my insurance.

The only time I will have to pay my portion of the premium is when I am out on leave. Then I will get sent payment coupons and I will owe a total of $241 a month for me a baby while I am out for the 14 weeks of leave I plan on taking. Then when I come back, it just gets taken out of my check at the $81.50 per paycheck.

[Widget123]

Maybe you and your DH should consider switching plans to a more affordable yet family friendly option? My BIL and SIL use Kaiser and I think that's supposed to be one of the cheaper ones? We didn't get such a huge spike like that when we added DD so it wasn't an issue for us

[billyhorrible]

Check with insurance, but I believe that most of the babies are covered under you for the first 30 days. Which gives you a little more wiggle room.


All of us are under DH's insurance. I don't get through my work and he does, which makes it an easy decision. And the insurance is fantastic. I may be recalling incorrectly, but I think his choice was "single" or "family" so since I've always been included, any and all kids we have are "free" as part of the family plan.

[sully326]

We have a family plan already because of DS But we're going to change our coverage a bit so that they cover more. Since we're doing that, after we broke it down, it's only going to cost us an extra $60/Mon & it will add DD too.

[noeliav]

Everyone is on my plan, and DS will be too. It is spendy, though.

[Deleted]

DH is an independent contractor, so he doesn't get the benefit of health insurance through his work. I've considered switching us all over to a new family plan, but my employer pays a big chunk of our insurance (mine is completely covered, I only pay for DH) and I don't want to incur the cost of insuring all of us out of pocket. We don't qualify for subsidized insurance either.

I have Humana and they did tell me that the baby was covered for 30 days after her birth. It looks like the cost to insure her alone on a separate plan will be between $150-200 for an Open Access (not HMO) plan that includes dental. I've asked some of my coworkers that have kids and they are all pretty much paying the same rates for their kids.

[missjenniebean]

yeah...a family plan for me is my entire paycheck since I am a part time working right under full time hours...baby is covered under my mom until I am 26 and SO is looking too. I jumped the gun and got my own insurance elsewhere so that baby is covered by mom and by me.

[dmoney]

DH and I seperated insurance plans as of the 1st of the year because it was cheaper for me to deliver on my own plan through work. But once i have the baby I will be going back on his. It is only an extra 60 a paycheck to cover us both. My company will give me 50 a paycheck if I am not on their insurance ( so 100 a month) so it is really only going to cost us an additional 20 a month to add the baby to his.

[mrskblack11]

DH is self-employed and has his own insurance plan. I would check out the Health Exchange programs and compare rates.

I am have medical, dental and vision covered through my work. I also looked into adding my DH to my Humana plan and the cost was outrageous compared to what he was able to get through another company. This was a few years before the health exchanges were established.

I have not thought about what we are doing about the baby's insurance yet. I plan on asking my employer to cover the cost of adding my baby to my plan. I am her only employee as well as her right and left arm so I am sure I can negotiate this.

[Deleted]

Feb 9, 2015 16:22:48 GMT -5 mrskblack11 said:

DH is self-employed and has his own insurance plan. I would check out the Health Exchange programs and compare rates.

I am have medical, dental and vision covered through my work. I also looked into adding my DH to my Humana plan and the cost was outrageous compared to what he was able to get through another company. This was a few years before the health exchanges were established.

I have not thought about what we are doing about the baby's insurance yet. I plan on asking my employer to cover the cost of adding my baby to my plan. I am her only employee as well as her right and left arm so I am sure I can negotiate this.

I don't think it should be too bad for you to add the baby to your plan. I saw the rates for just me and the baby through Humana and they were decent. But me + baby + DH was outrageously expensive. 

[bookninja]

Wow! Great post... Out of all the stuff I have been planning for... This had never crossed my mind. I just did a little research... Looks like adding LO to our plan will cost about an extra $100 a month. We use my plan because DH's is about twice as expensive for less coverage than mine. Combined with the fact that I want to work a slightly reduced schedule when coming back to work (and therefore paying a percentage of the company cost)... Yikes! Maybe $50 - $75 extra on top of that! Sigh! I need a money tree...

[belle0720]

Glad you brought this up--I totally didn't think about adding baby onto our insurance once she's born! Our medical is through my job, so I just looked it up and it will go from $289/month to $392/month.

This may be a lame question, but do you add a baby to your dental plan right away as well? When do babies/kids start going to the dentist?

[missjenniebean]

Feb 9, 2015 17:15:08 GMT -5 belle0720 said:

Glad you brought this up--I totally didn't think about adding baby onto our insurance once she's born! Our medical is through my job, so I just looked it up and it will go from $289/month to $392/month.

This may be a lame question, but do you add a baby to your dental plan right away as well? When do babies/kids start going to the dentist?

Asked my dentist that when I visited, as she said age 3. Which surprised me. I might check around though.

[Deleted]

belle0720 my current health insurance includes vision and dental. If I were to add her on to my policy she would be covered for those as well. The policy I'm now looking at through Humana (not through my job) includes dental for her.

[santoki77]

OK I am supremely jealous of all you ladies. DH is on my high deductible plan (HD) and It'll be ~$80/mo to add the baby. However....my firm's plan is changing and my HD is going from 5k to 9k! the silver lining is that my firm pays for 50% of my HD for ER visits and hospitalizations. So. I guess fortunately I'll hit my HD by June with the delivery but it stinks having to pay 4500 oop. I think my hospital won't charge interest or send my bill to collections so long as I make "some" sort of payment every month but I'll be paying off L&D for atleast a year or more :*(

[billyhorrible]

Feb 9, 2015 17:18:11 GMT -5 missjenniebean said:

Feb 9, 2015 17:15:08 GMT -5 belle0720 said:

Glad you brought this up--I totally didn't think about adding baby onto our insurance once she's born! Our medical is through my job, so I just looked it up and it will go from $289/month to $392/month.

This may be a lame question, but do you add a baby to your dental plan right away as well? When do babies/kids start going to the dentist?

Asked my dentist that when I visited, as she said age 3. Which surprised me. I might check around though.

My friend's dad is a dentist and he also said 3.

[belle0720]

billyhorrible missjenniebean Yeah I did a quick yahoo search and found that some dentists recommend to come in when baby gets his/her first tooth and some recommend 3 years old. Not a huge deal since it's only an extra $4/month to change to a family dental plan on my insurance, but it's definitely not something I had thought about before. Good to know.

[Bluedaisy]

Wow I'd never even thought of this. We have universal health care so the basics are covered and then DH and I are both covered through our employers and it's free to add baby. We went to update RRSP stuff and they gave us a book on RESPs....so many changes!

[apollo11235]

Wow, that's huge! I hope you can find a cheaper plan for baby.

DH and I have the same insurance, both as policyholders through the same employer, so we'll add LO to mine, probably. The premium will only go up by about $81/mo.

billyhorrible and @littlebee - do you know what the details are on the baby being covered on your plan for 30 days? My policy brochure says the same thing, but I haven't looked into exactly what it means. So if I go to the hospital, give birth, then take LO home within a few days postpartum, are all of baby's expenses covered as if they were mine - with the deductible already met (since I have met mine already) and just one OOP max for all of mine and baby's services? Obviously, this is a question for my insurance company, but do you know if that's what it means for you?

[Deleted]

apollo11235 I *think* it means she is covered if I had to take her to the pediatrician during those 30 days. I would imagine that your baby is covered, just like you, for all expenses relating to her birth. But don't quote me on that!

My insurance is paying for everything pregnancy and delivery related, but I am still responsible for a portion of the hospital stay (up to $3k). I have GAP coverage, so I get back $500 for each day I am in the hospital after filing a claim. So my total OOP would be $1,500 after all is said and done.

[Deleted]

Feb 9, 2015 19:01:26 GMT -5 @demanda88 said:

Feb 9, 2015 18:43:52 GMT -5 @littlebee said:

apollo11235 I *think* it means she is covered if I had to take her to the pediatrician during those 30 days. I would imagine that your baby is covered, just like you, for all expenses relating to her birth. But don't quote me on that!

My insurance is paying for everything pregnancy and delivery related, but I am still responsible for a portion of the hospital stay (up to $3k). I have GAP coverage, so I get back $500 for each day I am in the hospital after filing a claim. So my total OOP would be $1,500 after all is said and done.

I'm not sure which insurance carrier you have, but I was just looking at mine today (United Healthcare) and they have a tool where you can actually estimate the entire cost of childbirth, including all prenatal care, the hospital stay, the baby's pediatricians visits under your plan, and your visit with the OB after giving birth. It tells you the full cost, what they cover, and the estimated amount you will owe.

I have Humana. After I got pregnant I called them to find out what was covered and they told me I was basically covered for everything, but I still have the deductible (half of which I would get back anyways). My OB's office actually went over all the costs with me for vaginal and c-section delivery. I checked online and couldn't find a cost estimator tool, but I have a pretty good idea of what I'm looking at now, which isn't bad at all compared to doing this without insurance! 

[bendherova]

Thankfully, all dependents on H's insurance are free. It was not the case with his old job/plan!

And we started taking DS to the dentist at 18mo, but they only counted his teeth and looked in his mouth with the mirror for the first two visits (to acclimate him) He's since had two successful and uneventful cleanings. We self paid the cost of his first three visits ($200 total for all 3) bc it was more OOP to add him to our dental.

New job/new insurance between the 3rd and 4th dental visit, he's covered now.

[trixi282]

My employers coverage was for Single or Family, we didn't have an option for Double (married only, no kids) type of coverage, so I was already paying a bunch for the family plan as a married couple.  We made that decision when we got married because my insurance was way better than H's and although it cost a bit more (than two single plans) his insurance was pretty crappy.

So when J was born I simply added her to our family plan which is the same price for 2 people or 20 people... So adding baby #2 won't affect our premiums and in reality our out of pocket cost will technically go down overall because the cost will be covering 4 people now for the same cost I was paying for 3.

[trixi282]

Feb 9, 2015 17:15:08 GMT -5 belle0720 said:

Glad you brought this up--I totally didn't think about adding baby onto our insurance once she's born! Our medical is through my job, so I just looked it up and it will go from $289/month to $392/month.

This may be a lame question, but do you add a baby to your dental plan right away as well? When do babies/kids start going to the dentist?

Many say 3, some say 2.  We brought J just before she turned 2.5 for her first visit, but I had added her to the insurance when she was born (since my dental/vision was already a family plan with H and it was no cost to add her).

I personally think it's easier to think ahead and at least add them to insurance as soon as LO gets a tooth (which can greatly vary by child) if you have it and it won't cost a fortune, because you never know when something could happen (chipped tooth) that you might want that insurance as a back-up!

I knocked out my 3 front teeth when I was 2.5 when I fell face first into a dresser while playing in my brothers room... I always thought of that when I signed up my LO for insurance, even though she didn't get her first tooth until 15 months old!

[kemdupuis]

So much to think about. I am embarrassed to say I haven't fully checked into this one yet. Our plan has been to add LO and DH to my plan (DH currently has his own plan through his wmployer) once LO comes. My plan has significantly better coverage, but if I wanted to add just DH, we'd have to switch to a family plan, so we decided to wait until LO gets here.

[Deleted]

DS was covered under my plan for the first 30 days and I have anthem blue cross. I didn't set up his insurance to start until the 30 days ended because my employer would not even take any information from me without an actual births certificate. Not sure if your situation would be the same too. Basically, I did the research up front to see how much it would cost but other then that there was nothing further to do accept wait for the 30 days to be close to being up and then officially get him insurance.

[ombradellarosa]

We are broke as a joke, but on the bright side, that means baby can get healthcare cheap through the state. Right now I am on my parents' insurance but it runs out on my next birthday. DH has no insurance anymore since costs went up at his work and they paid people to get off the insurance plan. We are a mess. Just so grateful I'm still covered because this would be a nightmare otherwise.

Thanks @littlebee for starting a good discussion!