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Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Health Insurance For Pregnant Women

By Tom Harkenshire

Although it is important for everyone to have a health insurance, it is particularly important in the context of pregnant women. The reason is obvious: there are many things that can go wrong during pregnancy, or could be made better if the woman is aware of certain facts. Therefore, it is essential that pregnant women periodically receive check-ups in order to make sure the pregnancy is progressing properly and there are no detectable problems with their unborn child.

Sadly, there is a large number of pregnant women who do not possess health insurance. This is not only dangerous to their own well being, but also risks the health of their offspring. Studies have shown that children born to women who have not been periodically checked by a doctor are more likely to have low birth weight, as well as higher incidents of death.

In fact, according to the AMA (American Health Association), 41 million Americans do not possess health insurance, this includes roughly 13% of pregnant women in the United States. These facts are tragic, since many unfortunate situations could be prevented if these women had possessed health insurance.

Prenatal checkups can be very expensive, not to mention hospital and delivery charges which could cost $10,000 or more. Furthermore, if there are complications, such as premature birth or the woman requires a cesarean section, the costs would be much greater. Therefore, it is strongly recommended for pregnant women to find a way to obtain health insurance.

One obstacle that uninsured pregnant women face is that most companies simply do not accept them, on the grounds that the pregnant is a pre-existing condition. Although there are ways to overcome this (which we will shortly discuss), ideally if you are an uninsured woman who intends to get pregnant soon, please obtain health insurance beforehand. This may save a lot of grief (and worse) later on. The following are a few useful and practical tips on how uninsured women may obtain health insurance:

First, use all the resources at your disposal: shop around, search the internet, ask physicians. There are health insurance companies who may be able to provide pregnancy health coverage and discounted health care coverage, you just need to find them. These days it is extremely easy to obtain health insurance quotes online from a long list of providers, so use this, and you are likely to find a health insurance that will accept you.

Second, there are some federally funded programs that can offer health insurance for low income people, and this includes pregnant women. Medicaid, for example, enables an uninsured pregnant woman to obtain health insurance coverage. It is important to state that some states have specialized programs for this purpose: if you are in such a situation, it would be a good idea to investigate and see whether your state offers such a program.

Third, check with other agencies, such as WIC. WIC offers low income women and children under 5 to get health services. It also provides food supplements.

Finally, if you are in a position where you have several options, make sure you choose your plan carefully: choose the plan which covers all the benefits you may require. For example a hospital-only plan will not cover visits to a physicians clinic.

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