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  #1  
Old 11/18/2007, 09:42 PM
mano mano is offline
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HMO or PPO Insurance for pregnancy

My husband and I are thinking of trying early next year and I was wondering what is a better insurance plan, HMO or PPO, to have while pregnant? We have a PPO now that we pay for because jobs don't have coverage, but it doesn't cover maternity so I am looking at all our options before we really try. Does anyone have any experiences or pros or cons on either plan? I know HMO's usually have lower copays, but higher montly costs, and PPO's are lower monthlys, but higher copays? Thanks for any advice and experiences!
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  #2  
Old 11/18/2007, 10:21 PM
jpfelix jpfelix is offline
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with my wife's hmo, her entire pregnancy and the birth and the first few visits after only costeded us $350 (that's tree-fiddy)!

her monthly's are paid for by her employer.
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  #3  
Old 11/18/2007, 10:35 PM
Muttling Muttling is offline
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Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Nashville, TN
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I have several notes on this........


FIRST - Try to pick up short term disability insurance for her if you can. (Strange as it may seem, STD typically covers time off for pregnancy.)


SECOND - Trying in January doesn't mean a baby in 2008. 2009 is more likely, but not automatic either. When you go to have a kid, the LAST choice you get to make is when to start trying. The kid chooses everything else.

THIRD - The biggest thing with HMO's is that you don't get to choose what doctors you see and whether or not you see a specialist. The actual costs depend on the particular plan you are under, but HMO's are generally cheaper than PPO's when you have high medical cost. I suggest you read VERY carefully and verify that your doctors are in plan before choosing either one.
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  #4  
Old 11/18/2007, 10:36 PM
Aliie Aliie is offline
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Location: Atlanta, GA
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I see you are in CA, check out the Kaiser HMO Premier plan. Or if not the way to go for you look into the BCBS PPO.

It was so long ago for me I have no idea what the heck I had. These are the two I have heard of lately that people I know are using.
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  #5  
Old 11/18/2007, 11:02 PM
mano mano is offline
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Thanks for the replies so far

Muttling - I understand that getting pregnant could take a while, but from what I've read a lot of insurance won't cover a pregnancy after the fact, so I'm trying to make sure I have at least maternity coverage.

I'll look into the STD...that just looks wrong

Usually with HMO's you still get to choose your Ob/gyn without having to go through your primary dr.

Allie- I have Blue cross PPO right now, without the maternity so I will look into it further.
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  #6  
Old 11/19/2007, 06:56 AM
emilye2 emilye2 is offline
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We have BCBS PPO right now and I have no complaints. I can't believe they don't cover any maternity. OUrs covered 100% of check ups minus copays (15$) and 80% of the birth.
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  #7  
Old 11/19/2007, 04:31 PM
chainsaw5vent chainsaw5vent is offline
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Location: riverside, ca.
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We've got pacificare ppo. supposedly in todays conversation pregnancy is covered, but as w/ any ppo, it remains to be seen.
p.s. our ppo costs almost 250 bucks more than hmo each month. and the copays are $20/visit compared to $10/visit.

hmmm. $3000 more per year upfront just to be able to call and go to the dr. of your choice right now??!! then add in dbl money copays...then add in add'l deductables??! doesn't make sense to daddy's wallet.

emilye2, i think our ppo does the same. us/20%, them 80%.

mano. most people i know of at work are ok with hmo's. i just go ppo in order to keep mrs. happy.

but on the other hand..one co worker told me that his wife had an issue that could have been ordered up and walked down the hallway right now to handle if they had ppo coverage. but they had hmo and had to play the paperwork/authorization waiting game in order to receive the exact same treatment from the same dr.
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Last edited by chainsaw5vent; 11/19/2007 at 04:37 PM.
  #8  
Old 11/19/2007, 04:44 PM
NewMariner NewMariner is offline
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Location: Lubbock, Texas
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Man, thank God I dont have some of ya'lls insurance.

My company pays my monthly rates. Its a PPO I have no deductible. I pay 20 copay. My wife is 9 weeks pregnant. It is going to be 70 dollar baby...
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  #9  
Old 11/19/2007, 05:29 PM
Hattie B Hattie B is offline
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Quote:
Originally posted by NewMariner
Man, thank God I dont have some of ya'lls insurance.

My company pays my monthly rates. Its a PPO I have no deductible. I pay 20 copay. My wife is 9 weeks pregnant. It is going to be 70 dollar baby...
My dog was more then that..
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  #10  
Old 11/19/2007, 07:18 PM
NewMariner NewMariner is offline
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Quote:
Originally posted by Hattie B
My dog was more then that..
I refuse to spend more then that on a dog...
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  #11  
Old 11/19/2007, 09:12 PM
mano mano is offline
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There are BC PPO plans that cover maternity, just not ours. We just got a basic one that's $130/month for the 2 of us while hubby was out of work. His new job doesn't have benefits and neither does mine. I can definitely change to a different plan with BC and get the maternity.

I need to look in to it a little more, but thanks everyone for your input.
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  #12  
Old 11/19/2007, 09:33 PM
Satori Satori is offline
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I have BCBS PPO through work. My wife has her own insurance, but I also added her to mine because mine covers all maternity AND 90% of fertility treatments up to $25,000. The chemo she was given makes it unlikely that she can get pregnant, so we chose this plan so we can use the fertility treatments and at least try.
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  #13  
Old 11/19/2007, 10:54 PM
mano mano is offline
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Quote:
Originally posted by Satori
I have BCBS PPO through work. My wife has her own insurance, but I also added her to mine because mine covers all maternity AND 90% of fertility treatments up to $25,000. The chemo she was given makes it unlikely that she can get pregnant, so we chose this plan so we can use the fertility treatments and at least try.

Mike,
Good luck to you and your wife!
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  #14  
Old 11/19/2007, 11:12 PM
Satori Satori is offline
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Thanks!
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"There either is or there isn't life out there. Both possibilites are frightening."
(someone help me out - who said this?)
  #15  
Old 11/20/2007, 03:46 AM
chainsaw5vent chainsaw5vent is offline
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Location: riverside, ca.
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Quote:
Originally posted by NewMariner
I refuse to spend more then that on a dog...
I'm not sure how texan you are. if you could find a great dog/alarm system for your truck willing to do his best 'trunk monkey' impression and go fetch your rifle AND chase varmints AND be your best hangin' out buddy w/o complaints AND sniff all of your farts because he thinks they're interesting AND plays with AND protects your wife and kids because he chooses to make that his job ?? i'd spend that kind of money.

lol
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  #16  
Old 11/20/2007, 05:37 AM
greenlm greenlm is offline
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HMO's are horrible. Go with a PPO.

I go through BlueCross/Blueshield PPO.
  #17  
Old 11/20/2007, 10:42 AM
JokerGirl JokerGirl is offline
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We've had two different health insurance PPO plans in the last several years. Our first one was BlueCross/BlueShield. They were great. My co-pay for most drugs was $10, and doctors visits didn't have a co-pay at all.

Now that my parents moved down to Kentucky, I'm on Humana/Choice, and they are awful. I wouldn't recommend them to anyone! Every doctor's visit I've had since we've been on them has been a pain in the arse. They won't pay for my birth control pills, they wouldn't pay for me to get some hormone testing done, they probably aren't going to want to pay for my yearly biopsy of my cervix. It's been one fight after another with them.
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  #18  
Old 11/20/2007, 07:49 PM
neyugn0w01 neyugn0w01 is offline
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Quote:
Originally posted by greenlm
HMO's are horrible. Go with a PPO.

I go through BlueCross/Blueshield PPO.
HMO's are indeed terrible compare to PPO's, but for pregnancies and only that, go with Kaiser HMO. Kaiser's main goal is to save money, so they will not push for C-sections. Something to think about.
  #19  
Old 11/20/2007, 08:44 PM
catdoc catdoc is offline
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I don't think that short-term disability would cover pregnancy-related disability for at least 10 months after coverage is obtained. At least, that's what the insurance guy told us at work last week.
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  #20  
Old 11/20/2007, 08:54 PM
mano mano is offline
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Quote:
Originally posted by neyugn0w01
HMO's are indeed terrible compare to PPO's, but for pregnancies and only that, go with Kaiser HMO. Kaiser's main goal is to save money, so they will not push for C-sections. Something to think about.
\

I definitely would like to go PPO, but I just don't know if we will be able to afford it since we are paying out of pocket for all of this. The deductibles are all over the place and so are the montly costs. Then if you add a kid on to it, it goes up a couple hundred on most of the plans.

I know Kaiser HMO is good because my nephew had to have 2 liver transplants at age 1 and his parents only had a $25 copay!
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  #21  
Old 11/20/2007, 10:43 PM
trdofwrkin trdofwrkin is offline
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I have an hmo...Had it with all 3 kids and 1 gall bladder removal. the only thing i ever paid was my co-pay every time i saw the doctor...I never got a hospital bill. The same with mammograms only paid the co-pay for the office visit and nothing more. Ive had cigna hmo since 1980. No complaints and no problems and babies are alot less with hmo than ppo.
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nitrates 0
nitrites 0
ammonia 0
ph 8.2
salinity 1.026
temp 78.5
also:
20g qt tank all parms are same as above except:
salinity 1.009
with emperor 250 filter , heater and airstone.
  #22  
Old 11/20/2007, 11:30 PM
trdofwrkin trdofwrkin is offline
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[QUOTE]Originally posted by trdofwrkin
I have an hmo...Had it with all 3 kids and 1 gall bladder removal. the only thing i ever paid was my co-pay every time i saw the doctor...I never got a hospital bill. The same with mammograms only paid the co-pay for the office visit and nothing more. Ive had cigna hmo since 1980. No complaints and no problems and babies are alot less with hmo than ppo. [/QUOTE

Oh i forgot to mention all 3 births were cesarean section.
__________________
nitrates 0
nitrites 0
ammonia 0
ph 8.2
salinity 1.026
temp 78.5
also:
20g qt tank all parms are same as above except:
salinity 1.009
with emperor 250 filter , heater and airstone.
  #23  
Old 11/21/2007, 02:40 AM
neyugn0w01 neyugn0w01 is offline
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[QUOTE]Originally posted by trdofwrkin
Quote:
Originally posted by trdofwrkin
I have an hmo...Had it with all 3 kids and 1 gall bladder removal. the only thing i ever paid was my co-pay every time i saw the doctor...I never got a hospital bill. The same with mammograms only paid the co-pay for the office visit and nothing more. Ive had cigna hmo since 1980. No complaints and no problems and babies are alot less with hmo than ppo. [/QUOTE

Oh i forgot to mention all 3 births were cesarean section.
After you opt for the 1st C-sections, the following births will most likely be the same.
 


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