Hellobee Boards

@TravelBee: DDs bills went under her own deductible. I believe that is the norm since she is her own person. They were minimal compared to my bills.

@TravelBee: we have UPMC and didn't have any bills for either child. Any bills we had were for me -- for my oldest, it was for my csection, anesthesia and hospital stay. For my second, we didn't have any bills; she was covered 100%, including my prenatal care, delivery and hospital stay.

@TravelBee: yup. I was slow with DS1 and they sent me an ID card for "Baby Boy [lastname]" before I sent them the correct paperwork with his actual name. They wait until the actual birth so they have the correct birth day, social security number, etc.

I think they're telling you the wrong information - as soon as baby is born, they are an individual who can accrue bills. My 2nd DS was in the NICU for 2 months, and of course that was all under his deductible since it was his own health care. Maybe they are referring to most of the hospital bills going to you, since -you- are the one likely to need the most procedures, etc?

@Tanjowen: yeah, I was shocked -- I called for something else and inquired about this, and learned it was covered in full. I didn't argue!

So in my plan each person has a deductible and then you have a family deductible. Once the family deductible is hit, everyone is billed as if they have met the deductible. But it can't all just come from one person meeting it.

It is plan dependent. Also, typically (from what I understand) all charges are billed under the mother unless the stay of the child exceeds that of the mother. In which case than almost without question the child becomes their own deductible.

I have UHC and received a different answer each time I called to question this. Finally I got to a supervisor and got a "case number" to go with my answer in the event that it's not handled as expected.

My understanding in working for a health system is that once a baby is born, his charges are his own. You have 30 days to add your baby to your policy once born. Then each child has their own deductible and you have a family deductible. Usually, unless your baby goes to the NICU the baby has few charges compared to the mom.

@TravelBee: we also have Anthem BCBS and, if I recall correctly, my plan covered the first days of hospital costs for a newborn (hospital stay, check ups, etc) and went towards my deductible not his because he wasn't on the insurance until after he was born.

@TravelBee: we added LO after she was born.

My insurance bills labor and delivery of a "well baby" under the mother's insurance plan. If it's a "sick baby" then the baby would have their own deductible.