A recent investigation by the House of Representatives’ Committee on Energy and Commerce has found that many individual health insurance policies do not cover maternity care. The news is no surprise for women who are covered by these policies and experienced a rude awakening when they became pregnant. The four largest for-profit health insurers – Aetna, Humana, UnitedHealth Group and WellPoint – don’t cover normal deliveries for their members who have individual policies. The committee’s report confirms a 2009 report by the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) that scrutinized 3,600 individual policies and determined that just 13 percent provide maternity coverage. For women with these policies, it gets even worse should they become pregnant. At that point, if they apply for coverage in the individual market, insurers typically determine that pregnancy is a pre-existing medical condition and deny coverage on that basis. Maternity riders are offered on some policies, but they are extremely expensive, provide very limited coverage and might take as long as a year to become effective, according to the NWLC. The average cost of maternity care – nine months of prenatal care, three months of post-partum care and a delivery without complications – averaged $10,652 in 2007, a March of Dimes study reported. The Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 exempts companies with less than 15 employees and individual policies from providing maternity coverage, although some states maintain stricter requirements. This year, 12 states mandate maternity coverage in the individual insurance market and 17 in the small-group market, according to statehealthfacts.org, a project of the Kaiser Family Foundation. Thanks to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, this coverage gap will cease to exist in 2014.
Posts Tagged ‘March of Dimes’
House Panel Finds Many Individual Healthcare Policies Do Not Cover Pregnancy
Wednesday, December 1st, 2010Got Healthcare Reform Questions? Click These Links for Answers
Monday, April 26th, 2010
Confused about what healthcare reform means to you? Following is a handy guide to links that clarify the new rules and have timelines detailing when the various elements will kick in.
The Kaiser Family Foundation summarizes what healthcare reform means under Its “New & Noteworthy” section. Click on the “summary of the law” for an outline and on the “timeline”.
Families USA, a non-profit advocate for healthcare consumers has a “Health Reform Central” that provides a full rundown of the changes.
This website has a “Health Care Reform” button that links to an easy-to-read timeline. Be aware that the site belongs to an insurance broker.
This is the Obama administration’s explanation of how healthcare reform will work.
Consumer Reports presents useful information at the “Health-care reform” button towards the bottom of the home page.
Although this website is used primarily by house buyers looking for low mortgage rates, it presents a good summary of healthcare costs. Type “reform” into the search box, then click on the “What’s in it for you” button.
The March’s website summarizes important new provisions impacting women and children. Access it by clicking on “In the news.”
The Medicare Rights Center reviews important new provisions impacting senior citizens. Click on the box that says “learn more about health reform and Medicare.”
The Department of Health and Human services is planning to launch a website on healthcare reform that will include links to insurance options that it considers to be affordable on a state-by-state basis.
