Short-term Disability Insurance for Pregnancy

Posted on March 24, 2012 by MaryAnderson

Giving birth to a child can be overwhelming most of the times, especially for first-time parents. The long nine months of emotional ups and downs coupled with financial strains a pregnant woman endures has come to and end. A baby is born! Here’s a new reason to celebrate and be joyful. A reason to forget the difficulties of pregnancy and the expenses that go with it.

For stay-home mothers who are supported by a working spouse, this marks the beginning of a new milestone in her and her baby’s life. This is the start of a unique bonding between mother and child. After child birth, a mother would have to spend more time and attention to the newborn baby. Spending more time at home with the baby is not a problem with stay-home moms. There is no job or work to worry about. There’s only the baby to give full and undivided attention to.

On the other hand, working  mothers who have given birth to a child do not have the luxury of not worrying about staying home too long with the baby. Not because she did not want to. But mainly because there’s a job in the office waiting for your return, some weeks after child birth. As a working mom, your pressure is double – that of taking care of the newborn baby and that of keeping a job to support your baby. How does one deal with this?

Maternity Leave

Employers do have a responsibility to their workers (moms and dads) to provide them with the needed time off from work after a child is born in the family. This is commonly known to the workplace as maternity (for moms) or paternity(for dads) leave. Nowadays, this leave is referred to as parental or family leave. This paid time off from work is intended to allow parents to enjoy the coming of a new baby either by birth or by adoption.

In the United States, the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) was passed in 1993. This act provided for workers to an entitlement of up to 12 weeks of paid leave. It is also known as job-protected medical leave  for birth or adoption, where parents are allowed to take leave from work for a maximum number of weeks. And the good part of this is, it’s paid. This is made possible by the provision of another type of insurance – Short term disability insurance. With some exceptions, most states allow women to avail this short-term disability leave to cover for child birth and post-partum recovery.

Short term Disability Maternity Insurance

Short term disability maternity insurance (STD) is designed to cover full or a portion of one’s salary during the job-protected leave taken. In most cases, employers and states do provide this benefit not as an option but as an automatic inclusion in the insurance package. A small amount out of one’s salary is taken out to pay for this insurance offered by the state or employer. Some employers even shoulder the full amount and the employee need not contribute to the premium amount.

If the state of residency does not provide for STD,  additional coverage may be purchased from private insurance providers, the premium of which shall be paid on a monthly basis. Benefits from STD may be coursed through the employer or through the insurance provider (if availed as an additional coverage to the existing employer-sponsored health insurance plan). The general term of this STD insurance is payment of the salary either 50% or 100% for a certain number of weeks. Standard for pregnancy is six weeks. For pregnancy with complications, the time frame covered is longer. These factors are dependent on one’s employment tenure with the company.

For STD insurance provided by the state, salary paid is usually half to two thirds and the period covered runs for four to six weeks and up to 12 weeks in some cases.

This short-term disability maternity insurance is one such insurance worth investing in, if it is not provided by the employer or the state. Whatever money you put into this plan will be utilized at a time when absence from work is required by child birth, adoption or recovery from pregnancy complications. This is something every pregnant woman should know about and plan for as this will take the financial worries off when one has to stay at home longer than necessary to care for the baby.

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Health Insurance with Maternity Coverage

Posted on March 23, 2012 by MaryAnderson

People work to earn a living. Some could be working 40 hours a week; some less than that and still some juggle between two jobs. This really depends on the person or individual if he/she chooses how much time he/she wants to spend working. With the present global economic crisis, it is more or less the same for most countries to find more and more people  spending more time than the normal 40 hours a week schedule, in order to keep up with the rising cost of living. Under these circumstances, the health condition or being of a person takes the toll. Hence, the need for health insurance to take care of the medical or health needs of an individual.

For Americans,  the medical care system is rather different and unique as compared to the health care system of other countries. While other countries have a national health insurance program for its citizens, the US have none. For a person to have insurance, one may avail either through employer or buying personally or through government-funded health care programs. Health insurance is a benefit accorded to employees by employers. Although smaller companies do without this benefit,  there are federal laws concerning the mandatory provision of health insurance  to employees of companies with more than 25 workers.

Health Insurance 

Employer-sponsored health insurance are given by companies as some sort of benefit to their employees. This is one way a person may have insurance coverage – through automatic enrollment in group health insurance by the company. But due to the high cost of insurance premiums, only big companies can be generous enough to provide comprehensive insurance coverage for its employees. Most of the employers, however, cannot afford full-coverage insurance and had to opt for health insurance with some limitations on the stipulated coverage. There are companies providing health insurance which does not include maternity coverage to married employees. There are also health insurance provided to employees which do not cover specific high-risk diseases. Some employers offer health insurance with options on wider coverage and inclusions for a certain amount to be shouldered by the employee.

Maternity Insurance

The most common insurance coverage which is very important to female employees, is that which covers maternity expenses. Usually, pregnancy or maternity insurance is packaged with other health insurance and not offered as a separate or stand-alone insurance. It should cover all medical costs related to pregnancy, from prenatal care to the delivery of the baby, and in some cases, up to postnatal care. It should include coverage for the medical requirements of both the mother and the baby.

Inclusions  

Some of the services one should look out for in a maternity insurance are :

  • Prenatal visits and consultations with OB-GYN
  • Postnatal visits
  • Hospitalization (private room, medicines, other services / tests)
  • Physician’s fees
  • Routine procedures
  • Preventive treatment (for high-risk pregnancy)

As a general rule, maternity insurance should be such that it will reduce your out-of-pocket pay-offs substantially so you can focus more on the exciting preparation for the coming of the baby and not the expenses that go with it.

Maternity Insurance for High-Risk Pregnancy

For pregnant women who are expected to give birth the natural or normal way, maternity insurance may just be a helpful means to ease up financial burden over a costly child birth. It’s being able to manage the expenses such that there will be minimal financial pressure.

On the other hand, women with high-risk pregnancy will find this insurance very important especially that which covers additional medical costs for pregnancies with complications. The costs for preventive care or treatment are sky-high, which without maternity insurance, will most likely get a family in deep medical debts. Maternity insurance which covers high-risk pregnancies will of course require additional copay which you will have to shell out from your own pocket. But in the long run, the benefits will outweigh the extra premium payments and help deliver a baby safely despite the complications.

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Is there Maternity Insurance with no waiting period?

Posted on March 23, 2012 by MaryAnderson

Having a baby or planning to have one is one exciting event and experience for a couple. There is a diverse behavior when it comes to pregnancy or planning for a baby. Most young couples would just throw themselves into the idea without any planning on the coming of a baby. Other couples, the more matured and educated ones, will consider careful planning which would include having maternity or pregnancy insurance.

Maternity Coverage

Maternity insurance is a health plan designed to cover medical costs that go along with pregnancy and child birth. It should cover the prenatal expenses, childbirth or delivery and postnatal care. The coverage should be for both mother and child.

Considering the high cost of medical care in the United States, it is no surprising that majority of insurance providers have taken out this coverage from their health insurance packages. Afraid of high exposure, insurance providers exclude pregnancy or maternity coverage although there are still some insurance providers who, under certain specific conditions and circumstances, include this extremely costly and complex health care plan for pregnant women.

Waiting Period

One such condition insurers give is a waiting period ranging from 3 months to one year or more before pregnancy could be allowed.  Pregnancy to some insurance providers is considered a preexisting condition, excluding it from the insurance coverage. In the case of an employee provided with a health insurance by the employer, an average waiting period of 3 months (from date of coverage) is given before the employee can get pregnant or before the insured can claim benefits. Other employers may have a different condition on the waiting period. Some employers consider maternity insurance as an optional coverage which the employee may avail on condition of additional payment to be shouldered by the employee.

Already pregnant women will find it hard to get covered. Their only option is to check out state- or federal-funded healthcare plans which could include coverage even if women are already expecting. But even this option presents some challenges such as eligibility and other state-specific requirements. The best way is to check out in advance all the requirements of the state for maternity coverage if you are planning to conceive a baby. This will at least give you an alternative just in case you are not able to get the maternity insurance in time for the child birth.

So, the question really is, “Is there maternity insurance with no waiting period?” Are there insurance providers who are sensitive enough to the needs of pregnant women?

The answer is yes. While most maternity insurance requires a waiting period before receiving maternity coverage or before the insured can get pregnant especially for employer-sponsored health insurance, there are other insurers who do not impose a waiting period. Maternity insurance with no waiting period is likely unable to provide hefty paybacks in the first year or two of coverage. This is despite the fact that you are to shell out (from your own pocket) additional money to pay for the coverage. The maternity insurance will cover an already pregnant woman, at an additional premium fee, but with less benefits until after the third or fourth year of coverage. And if this is the kind of maternity insurance you are likely to afford, long child birth planning is recommended.

For those who can afford the high cost of insurance premiums for maternity coverage with no waiting period, it’s all just a matter of choosing the insurance provider who can give the best payback in terms of benefits from prenatal, supplements, childbirth until postnatal or post baby and mother care.

Other Options

For pregnant women who are not covered by maternity insurance at all, there are other options to check, which will somehow help alleviate the burdening costs of childbirth.

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