Does Blue Cross cover Home Births?
I live in California and am currently under Kaiser Permanente Insurance. I am working on changing to an insurance plan that will cover/re-imburse a home birth. Does anyone know if Blue Cross covers? If not, do you know of an insurance that will cover/re-imburse?
When dealing with an insurance company, the first thing you want to do is change the way you think about coverage and the language you use. You are *not* asking an insurance company to “cover home birth”. You are asking them to cover the services of a midwife (CNM, CPM, LM, etc.) who practices in an out-of-hospital setting. In fact, NEVER use the word “homebirth” with an insurance company. Call it an “out-of-hospital birth” with an “out-of-network provider”.
Second, there are many creative (but honest!) ways to get an insurance company to cover homebirth. If your midwife submits a “global” charge and it is rejected, ask her to break up the charges – prenatal care, home nursing care, lab fees, medical supplies, etc. Sometimes you can get most of it paid that way, even if their policy does not cover “homebirth”.
I know of many people who were told by their insurance co. that they did NOT cover homebirth, only to have the claim paid; and people who were told that their policy DID cover homebirth, only to have the claim denied. Sometimes you will get different answers from different customer service reps. Good luck finding accurate information about your insurance plan options!
Here is a link with a ton of helpful information:
http://www.gentlebirth.org/archives/money.html
“at the cross” – hillsong united cover
