Aside from prenatal vitamins and choices of names, pregnancy definitely impacts health insurance options. What happens if you are looking for California health insurance and you\’re already pregnant. We\’re not going to be one of \”those people\” that throws out \”buying home insurance when your house is on fire\” analogies. Let\’s go through the available options and see what we can do.

First of all, we will not be able to qualify for individual family insurance (as it currently stands in 2012) if you\’re already pregnant. The carriers can and will decline coverage for a pregnant applicant. They can also decline coverage for the father of the expected baby and will do so aside from a few plans. We will occasionally get calls where the person is right on the cusp…not officially pregnant from a doctor but missing periods and potentially pregnant. This is tricky. Read through the application of your intended carrier but ultimately, we must advise caution. The OBGyn will ultimately determine list a date of conception estimate based on ultrasound information. The last thing an expecting mother needs is the concern that her policy may not pay for a pregnancy because it was not divulged during the application process. Don\’t risk it. You do not want your policy to be rescinded. So where does that leave us?

If you have a group or Cobra option, make sure not to lose it. Keep in mind that there are renewal windows for group enrollment and keep in mind parent\’s policies (depending on age) and spousal/partner policies. Cobra generally has a 62 day window to elect coverage so keep this available if offered to you. Group health insurance in California is generally guaranteed issue (regardless of health) and most plans do not have a waiting period for pregnancy. If some form of group coverage is not available, we are then looking at the available government options.

If you have not had coverage in the last 6 months, we would generally look at the PCIP federal insurance plan for pre-existing conditions. The pricing is generally affordable and benefits are considered adequate. You might still compare this with the AIM State program for expecting mothers which can be low or no cost depending on your income. We like the longevity and stability of the PCIP plan but if cost is the paramount concern, check with AIM as well. Also keep in mind that your choice of doctors and hospitals may be impacted by this choice. If PCIP is not available and you do not qualify for AIM, we then need to look at MRMIP through the State. The pricing will be higher and there can be a waiting list to enroll (generally 1-2 months depending on popularity) but the key aim is to avoid having no coverage.

Keep in mind that delivery is very expensive with a typical delivery running between $6K-$10K. Ceasarian delivery can run $20K+. My first born\’s delivery was $180K simply due to coming early. You definitely want to cover an expected delivery and the best advice is to have coverage in effect prior to conception obviously. Effective 7/1/2012, all plans currently on the market (old and new) will cover maternity but this does not mean a carrier has to accept you if you\’re already pregnant and want to apply for a new policy. Keep in mind that you will probably not be able to change plans if already pregnant except for a few avenues (downgrades, class actions, etc). Barring changes, 2014 may provide some guaranteed options but we still do not have information on what this would entail or how it would work if you\’re already pregnant and looking for California health insurance. Please let us know if we can help in any way.

Dennis Jarvis is a licensed California health insurance quote broker with extensive knowledge of the Individual and Small Group health market in California. affordable California health insurance

Dennis Jarvis is a licensed California health insurance broker with extensive knowledge of the Individual and Small Group health market in California. More information can be found at http://www.calhealth.net

Author Bio: Dennis Jarvis is a licensed California health insurance quote broker with extensive knowledge of the Individual and Small Group health market in California. affordable California health insurance

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