Posts Tagged ‘Pregnancy health insurance’
Pregnancy and Travel Insurance
Unless you’ve already had children, you know that once you have one, your life is forever changed from that point. At least for a couple of years, you can forget about many of the things you’ve done frequently in the past. This is one reason why many pregnant women like to travel during their pregnancy, knowing it will be much harder (and probably impossible) to do so after the baby has been born.
If you intend to travel while pregnant, here are some important considerations to keep in mind:
First, even though people normally tend not to look at the terms offered by the travel insurance (“the fine print”) when going on vacation, now might be a good time to start doing so. The reason being, insurance companies consider pregnant women to be ‘high risk’. This is understandable, as there may be circumstances where the woman delivers her baby in a foreign country where she does not have medical insurance. Furthermore, there may be complications with the pregnancy while abroad which will require immediate medical attention.
Consequently, often pregnant women are not covered unless they return 8 weeks before their due date. In order to prevent aggravation and real risks to you and your baby, make sure you check this clause in your travel insurance. Make sure this applies both for your departure and your return dates – better safe than sorry!
Furthermore, the risk of complications greatly increases if travel is in the second half of the final trimester – so regardless of insurance policies – think hard whether you want to endanger yourself and your baby in such an advanced stage of pregnancy.
Second, if you are unable to find a company that will offer you travel insurance and you absolutely must travel (and these circumstances do occur), contact an insurance broker directly and see whether they are able to create a specific policy for you. Be warned, this will be more expensive than a standard policy, but this price is well worth it in case something does occur while you are away from home.
Third, most airlines have some type of restrictions with regards to pregnant women. Thus, before you purchase a ticket, check the specific restrictions placed by the airline you chose. Also, as you are probably aware, most airlines do not allow pregnant women to travel once their pregnancy is past a certain stage. Be sure to find the specific conditions before you leave. Note that the safest period to travel – from a statistical point of view – is the second trimester of the pregnancy. Keep this in mind!
Fourth, before going on any trip, it is a good idea to go see your doctor and have a checkup. The last thing one needs on a vacation in a foreign country is to discover she had a problem that needs urgent care. This can be avoided! Furthermore, in the final stages of pregnancy this is actually a necessary requirement in order to demonstrate you are eligible to fly, both for the insurance companies and the airlines who aim to minimize their risks, so obtain a letter from your physician that assures them you are in good health.
In conclusion: if you are pregnant and have decided to embark on a vacation, please follow the above advice as it would help you avoid certain unnecessary risks. If all is well, have a safe – and enjoyable – trip! And be sure to send us pictures!
Click on the image above to receive a quote for Maternity Health Insurance.
Although it is important for everyone to possess health insurance, it is particularly important in the context of pregnancy. 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.
This not only affects the unborn child, but the pregnant women as well. For example, certain types of abnormalities or genetic diseases can be discovered in advance if screened for. Additionally, certain risk factors could be assessed and be taken of that could endanger the baby once born. Furthermore, since there is always some risk involved during a pregnancy for the women, it is wise to continuously monitor the state of the pregnancy to make sure all is well. 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 the unborn child or the woman herself.
Unfortunately, many pregnant women do not have health insurance. It has been statistically shown that when they deliver, their babies are more likely to have low birth weight and higher incidents of death.
Obtaining health insurance coverage for uninsured pregnant women has become even more challenging today because of the towering costs of health insurance in the United States. According to the American Health Association, 41 million Americans are not insured, and around 13% pregnant women in the country do not possess any form of health insurance. This puts these women and their unborn children at unnecessary risk.
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 need for a cesarean section operation, the costs would be much greater. Therefore, it is strongly recommended for a pregnant women to obtain health insurance.
The problem is that most health insurance companies do not accept new insurance policies from pregnant women whose pregnancy has been assessed as a pre-existing condition. Ideally, if you are a woman and you know you wish to get pregnant, things would be much easier for you if you got health insurance before you got pregnant. But as is the case in life, often the unpredictable occurs, so if you are uninsured and found out you are pregnant, here are some useful tips that could help you obtain health insurance:
First, shop around – search the internet – for health insurance companies who can provide pregnancy health coverage and discounted health care coverage. It is easy to get free instant quotes from multiple providers. In fact, this site offers a way to shop around for maternity health plans: Click here to receive a quote.
Second, there are some federally funded programs which offer healthcare coverage for low income people. Medicaid, for example, allows you to enroll in a health insurance plan even when you are pregnant. An additional program is CHIP. Some states have specialized programs for this purpose: investigate whether your state offers one.
Third, look for additional benefits provided by other agencies. WIC is a federal agency that offers health services to low income women and children under 5, and 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 physician’s clinic.
Note that if you are a pregnant women that possesses insurance and wishes to travel abroad, you may want to check our article Travel Insurance and Pregnancy.