1. Read your hospital insurance fine print. Afterward, call and ask if pregnancy is a pre-existing condition. I was told it may vary by state by Metlife but the rep was not sure. My wife got pregnant during a "no coverage year". I later signed her up during open enrollment, knowing she was pregnant. It was about $10 per month. Later, during the following year when she was actually covered, she gave birth. We collected $1k for birth and $200 for overnight stays/followup appointments. Making a claim was a hassle each time, but we came out ahead. If you go this route, make sure you read all fine print for what you can claim and get the remaining $25 for this, $50 for that etc. The fine print matters most.
1. My employer offers hospital insurance. My cost would be $14/month. Is this something I should consider for next year knowing that I will be delivering a baby and requiring some amount of days in the hospital? I will have health insurance, is hospital insurance a useful supplement to health insurance? Knowing a hospital stay and possibly other related medical expenses are in my future?
2. Apart from getting cost estimates for labor/delivery from my hospital and insurance provider, and asking about discounts for upfront or paying in full, are there other steps I should take that may save us money or make life easier following baby's birth?
3. If it is an option, what are the pros and cons of paying the hospital upfront for something like this? e.g. could it possibly cause a headache if charges end up being different than anticipated.
4. My husband and I will have to decide whether we will ultimately add our child to my insurance or his. In weighing premium costs, deductibles and copays, are there things we should consider specifically related to baby's first year?
2) Check with your hospital provider if they have financial assistance regardless of your HHI income. Depending on your hospital and depending on your HHI income for a family of 3 (or more), they can retroactively refund you for a portion of what you paid up front when your household was 2 people. It was a sliding scale here here. For the majority of the US you will be able to get financial assistance in the form of a % discount. You have to ask for it, then supply the paperwork they later request.
3) I have no advice for you here other than you might have the option to split interest free payments over several months if upfront affordability is an issue.
4) We had our family under one HDHP so I can't think of anything right off the bat. For our two HDHP plans, there wasn't much difference for us between the "high deductible" and "medium-high deductible" HDHP plans. Our OOPM was 10k/11k for either. In the end, we paid around 3.5k for everything. Our "actual" bill was between 20k and 30k for everything per child. Consider a phone appointment with each insurance to get a better picture.
I can share more details upon request. Best of luck next year; you're in for an exciting time! Woohoo!!
Statistics: Posted by Northern Colorado — Wed Oct 08, 2025 6:33 pm — Replies 11 — Views 485