I feel like the policy has changed at my ob's office since delivering my other 2. We have to pay the % that insurance doesn't pay as well as the deductible by the 30th week of pregnancy. So, for me it will be $3600. We've already satisfied $1200 of our family deductible for the year, so we can't even get reimbursed for this until the money is paid in full at the OB's office.
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Yikes I need to look into this because I changed OBs since the birth of my second. So far I've only had one appointment for baby #3. The first I was on HMO and only had to pay $50 for L&D. The second, with the same doctor, I paid coinsurance until I met my out of pocket max because I was hospitalized early into my pregnancy and had several ER visits too.
OK so while writing this I went and looked in the packet. I'll just quote it so I don't screw it up. "The Obstetrical fee will be billed to your inurance provider after delivery for contracted plans. If your physician is not a contracting participant, you will be expected to make payment in full by your 32 week (7 months). All deductibles are due prior to delivery. You are also responsible for all Co-pays. And Co-insurance responsibility (some may be 20-30 percent or more). If you have a cesarean section, we will bill your insurance company for your entire care, provided we have all necessary billing information. We will make payment arrangements in advance."
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Also, I go to a good OB, but I have no idea who wrote this form and it is kind of terrible, lol.
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Just checked your location, I feel like this is a Texas thing! Maybe not but I had never heard of prepaying anything medical/surgical before moving here. I paid nothing in advance for my first in MA. Had my second here in tx and we had to pay the full ob cost as a deposit - what they actually thought we would owe given our deductible/coinsurance. Mine was January so I was going to owe it all but I think they would have adjusted if some of deductible had been met. They took monthly installments from 12w until it was paid over about 5 months.
The silly thing is though, the billing manager admitted to me that they always bill late, so hospital takes your deductible and they (ob) are often stuck giving refunds. Which you can't get until everything is processed which could be months after birth. I had to call them last time just to get them to submit the bill, so that I could eventually get a refund to pay the hospital! It was thousands but not sure exactly. -
I don't know if it's my insurance or my ob's charging practices that is really good but before l&d charges, I only had. $20 copay at my first prenatal appointment, and then a few fees for random tests that were processed by labs not in network or something. I didn't have to pay the l&d fees until after, aside from paying extra for a private room at the hospital.
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I have to pay the amount not covered by my insurance by the 30th week of pregnancy.
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$0. Everything was billed to insurance after delivery. It was less than my deductible, so I paid maybe 6 weeks after birth.
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nothing before, just billed through insurance after delivery
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My copay for all my OB appointments was $350 both times. I have to pay it all by 30ish weeks.
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I guess the bright side is that our year plan is Jan-Dec so we'll hit our deductible quickly and since we are on an 80/20, won't have too much more to pay thereafter on the bill from the hospital and everything else.
@bhbee: Interesting! We can pay whatever we want each time but since we only have X amount of dollars on an HSA card each month I've been trying to decide how to do it. It seems like this time has gone by really fast--as in I didn't get the amount until my 2nd visit, and I'm only 2 visits in and I have to pay it all in the next 2 visits. UGH that is so annoying and I somewhat remember something like that happening with my 2nd child because I had to go up to the OB's office and their office manager cut me a pretty big check because I had overpaid.
It's going to be irritating when bills come in from the hospital--usually one for me, and a separate for baby, then all the other miscellaneous bills and I'll have to call billing and have it all rebilled since we'll have met our deductible.
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They coordinate with the hospital. The OB assumed I'd meet my deductible either with hospital charges or before and only charged coinsurance. With my first the OB charged me the deductible up front.
Same OB!! They changed their process in between my pregnancies.
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Nothing, prenatal care was 100% covered under my plan, thankfully
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First time, copay was $150. Nothing else due until after birth. Second, I had to pay the amount that was owed by maybe week 36 or so? But I was concurrently paying down my dedication my chiropractor so everytime my balance due changed. It was very confusing.
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$280 the first time and $500ish the second time. I'm still waiting for my refund check.
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@matador84: That was a thing when I lived in Texas. All of my teacher friends had to pay their doctor and hospital before delivery--not sure by what week.
But AFAIK, that doesn't happen in NJ--at least not on my insurance. Here, labor and delivery is a totally covered benefit--so I paid just $10 for all my doctor's visit, and the hospital stay.
Could the policy have changed recently because of the Obamacare repeal? As you know, Texas is pretty quick to cut any benefit they can, as soon a they can legally do so. My insurance there was so, so much worse and more expensive than my coverage here, that has similar premiums.
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@Anagram: I'm in CA and still having to prepay fwiw.
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@matador84: Texas here too and I also am expected to prepay. I'm paying the estimated cost of a vaginal delivery with my ob (not including hospital fees for me and for the baby) that my insurance has set because I have not yet my deductible. The cost is less than my deductible, but still costs $2400 that we are splitting into 5 monthly payments.
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I'm also in Texas and the hospital asked me to prepay before I delivered. I refused when I registered and it wasn't a big deal fortunately. I'm glad I did because my final bill (just for me, not including baby) was less than I was quoted.
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@matador84: oh, I didn't read the part about the deductible. They were easily able to see what I had paid toward my deductible thus far and then give me what I owed minus that. I would not double pay that!!
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My entire pregnancy cost $50.
I spent extra on some consultations (three at $50 each) to interview new providers since I changed OBs partway through my pregnancy. But that was my choice.
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I pay the same (deductible plus estimated coinsurance for all prenatal care) but it's due by 20 weeks. It was the same with my first DD 3 years ago (same OB practice). And unfortunately, like you, I've already satisfied my deductible through other appointments/costs (mainly MFM) so the OB owes me most of it back, but we won't get it until after delivery when they officially file with insurance
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I pay deductible + hospital copay. I have a FSA so since you can't use that until services are rendered the 30 week requirement is waived. There is about a $2k difference between my copay and the deductible, though, so I've been paying towards it when I rememeber.
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I'm in TX and had to pay the full deductible plus the remains 20% that my insurance doesn't cover by 30-ish weeks. Since I was due in Jan, that meant I had to pay for all of it, then when I delivered in Dec, I had to request a refund of the entire deductible. (We had already hit the deductible for the year.). It was a huge PITA. BS like this is why I am more and more on the single payer insurance bandwagon.
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I'm in Texas also and had to pay the full amount (prenatal care and L&D) by 28 or 32 weeks. The total amount was about $1,200 and we made payments at every OB visit.
ETA: we also got about a $1k refund from the hospital after delivery.
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I think mine was like $300. I can't remember exactly but I remember feeling a lot of relief with that number.
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nothing beforehand - it was billed to insurance after the birth (prenatal and delivery)
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So just to be clear, are you talking about prenatal care from your OB or actual delivery charges?
First time we had a 20% coinsurance plan so the OB office after the first trimester did a work up to calculate what the 20% cost would be for prenatal care (from about week 12-40). We had to pay that cost by like week 30. Later we also got our 20% portion of the L&D charges but that was after the birth.
Second and third kid we didn't have any coinsurance, just a $40 copayment each visit (OB is considered a "specialist"). We paid the flay $200 hospital fee once we were admitted and that was the end of our delivery charges.
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I paid co-pay for office visits, then hospital had a deductible I had to pay.
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@T.H.O.U.: this is all prenatal care and delivery.
However, I've always still been billed by the hospital for having my kids on top of what I've already paid up with the ob office.
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I paid a $30 copay once to cover all my prenatal visits and then expect to pay the flat $350 hospital fee for delivery. I am also on a plan with no coinsurance. I assume I won't have to pay until after delivery, but we will see.
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For delivery and anticipated charges - $0.
I just paid my co-pay at the visits (if any), and then they billed insurance and then billed me any leftover.
This was in 2012 though and I have no idea if my OB's office has changed their practice at all.
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That seems like a lot. I had a co pay every visit throughout pregnancy and the $200 bill for delivery/hospital.
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$0. Maternity care is covered by insurance in full. I only have to pay a copay for being admitted to the hospital. LO1 was $250, LO2 was $400. And those amounts get billed afterwards.
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I had to prepay, it was based on my insurance. I think I had to pay it by 28 weeks or something. I'm in Florida. I think it was about $600. Of course I still got billed after the delivery by the hospital, anesthesiologist for my epidural, etc....
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Yup, my deductible and then their estimate of what I would owe. So I paid $1300. $1k deductible and then $300, although I ended up getting a refund I think I only owed $200 at the end (for their services). And one $40 copay. All prenatal and birth services. With my first they didn't have me pay upfront either.
So after birth I paid the hospital charges, ped charges, and epidural charges. Plus I had extra because I went to L&D to get checked but ended up leaving. I think it was like a standard ER charge ($250 for me) -
I don't think we saw a bill my entire pregnancy until after delivery. I think we paid somewhere between $1-2K. I was expecting it to be much higher.
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Just paid $1300 at 24 weeks to cover all prenatal visits with midwives and a vaginal delivery at the hospital. I also did this at a different office with my first and at the hospital when I registered with DD, so it didn't surprise me this time.
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@T.H.O.U.: mine was combined prenatal, l&d, and post partum care from the OB. The hospital, anesthesiologist, and care for the baby was separate.
@Alba4: We are on a CDHP plan, where we basically pay the total cost out of pocket until we fulfill the deductible, then the insurance kicks in. Our family deductible is $2400 which is on the low end of average for these types of plans.
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My deductible is $2600 and my OOP max is $4500.
I had to pay the doctor $1000 up front, which was 1/3 of his typical $3000 charge. The hospital wanted me to pay them $3000 up front (I arranged a payment plan instead). The hospital billed my insurance before my doctor did, and there was an postpartum ER visit there too, so those two hospital charges (L&D plus ER) made me hit my OOP max. Thus, when my dr billed me, insurance paid the whole thing, and the Dr refunded me my earlier payment. It took about 6-8 weeks after the birth.
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I work with midwives, but we have to pay about $3,600 before 36 weeks. They'll adjust and send reimbursement after the baby is born. Their global charge is $5,100, so I assume they ran the numbers when I was first pregnant, and I'll receive some $ back since their estimate didn't take my ultrasounds with other providers into consideration.
This includes all prenatal appointments, home visit, the birth, and home visits at days 1, 3, 6, 10, and 15 days (also discharge office visit at 6 weeks).
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