Switching health insurance mid-pregnancy

[pinotgrig]

It looks like H may be accepting a new job, which means I'll likely go on my work insurance since we both have ins through his work now. No one can give me a straight answer on what this means.

My ob takes the new insurance (bcbs).

My ob's office does global billing, meaning they bill the insurance for all the office visits (after my ~12w confirmation appt) along with all the delivery charges after the baby gets here. If I switch insurances, they'll bill my old insurance (cigna) for all the visits I had covered by them. They may cover them, they may charge me my $45/visit specialist copay.

Both my ob's office and bcbs seem to think that pg is not a pre-existing condition (this is my biggest fear) but no one can give me this in writing until I'm enrolled with bcbs.

Anyone else switched midway through? Am I missing any crucial questions or issues? I'm so going to miss our cigna insurance - it was going to cost us $45 to have this baby. Total. :/

[FastHands]

How far along are you? You may want to consider using COBRA through your husband's work through the duration of your pregnancy if possible. That sounds like really good coverage, and especially if the new coverage could reject pregnancy claims as relating to a pre-existing condition, it's probably worth the extra $ in premiums to pay for COBRA.

[Deleted]

If you are not on a grandfathered plan (aka one that doesn't have to comply with the ACA yet), pregnancy should not be a pre-existing condition.

COBRA is going to be expensive (and if there are less than 20 employees at your H's company you don't get COBRA anyway, but a state-dependent substitute that can have different rules), so that probably is not the best bet financially speaking.

[pinotgrig]

Mar 11, 2014 13:47:32 GMT -5 @mrsspunky said:

If you are not on a grandfathered plan (aka one that doesn't have to comply with the ACA yet), pregnancy should not be a pre-existing condition.

COBRA is going to be expensive (and if there are less than 20 employees at your H's company you don't get COBRA anyway, but a state-dependent substitute that can have different rules), so that probably is not the best bet financially speaking.

Thanks - this is good info! So if both plans (old and new) are grandfathered, then it's not pre-existing. Is the inverse true as well?

[pinotgrig]

And cobra would be reeeeally expensive. H has a "Cadillac" plan there and I know his employer pays a ton for their portion of the premiums.

[Deleted]

Mar 11, 2014 15:30:52 GMT -5 pinotgrig said:

Mar 11, 2014 13:47:32 GMT -5 @mrsspunky said:

If you are not on a grandfathered plan (aka one that doesn't have to comply with the ACA yet), pregnancy should not be a pre-existing condition.

COBRA is going to be expensive (and if there are less than 20 employees at your H's company you don't get COBRA anyway, but a state-dependent substitute that can have different rules), so that probably is not the best bet financially speaking.

Thanks - this is good info! So if both plans (old and new) are grandfathered, then it's not pre-existing. Is the inverse true as well?

No, if the new plan IS grandfathered, it may be considered pre-existing and thus not covered.

[pinotgrig]

Mar 11, 2014 15:32:49 GMT -5 @mrsspunky said:

Mar 11, 2014 15:30:52 GMT -5 pinotgrig said:

Thanks - this is good info! So if both plans (old and new) are grandfathered, then it's not pre-existing. Is the inverse true as well?

No, if the new plan IS grandfathered, it may be considered pre-existing and thus not covered.

Thanks for clarifying. I'll be calling bcbs back to ask that question specifically. The suggestion to confirm with a supervised by a pp is a good one as well.

Last question - does it matter if my old insurance plan is grandfathered or not? Or does that only apply to the plan I'm moving to?