Have you ever paid for a maternity rider?

Question

Bonus questions: what did it cost and how did it impact your life?

Answer

What is that?

Answer

Yes. We live in Chicago suburbs. We knew we wanted to start TTC at the end of 2013/early 2014 so we purchased the rider in early 2013. It was an extra 980/month. We had a 5,000 individual deductible. It was also while we were finishing paying for our wedding so we were stretched pretty thin for a while, but you do what you have to do. However, our insurance now is out of control. 1,200 month for a 6,500 individual deductible. Our monthly premium went up 200 dollars and our deductible went up 1,500 dollars this year with no change in coverage.

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Yes with my first I had the maternity rider. It doubled what I was paying each month. With my second we had Obamacare and went with a gold plan that had higher monthly premiums to avoid paying a higher deductible.

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For those who don't know what it is: Before 2014, maternity coverage wasn't a guaranteed benefit, and only about 12% of plans sold in the individual market included this coverage, according to ObamaCareFacts.com. Maternity coverage was offered only by some health insurance plans or had to be added as a special rider to a plan. Furthermore, pregnancy was considered a pre-existing condition, meaning maternity coverage was either unavailable to women who were already pregnant when they enrolled, or would cost more.

Answer

I was privately insured for several years prior to the ACA. For part of that time I did elect to pay more for insurance that included maternity coverage. It was before my husband (then boyfriend) and I were married and I was able to get insurance cheaper on my own rather then using my employers crappy plan.

Initially (I want to say the year was around 2009 but don't completely remember) the increase was around $45 more per month on my premium. The price seemed reasonable but I remember thinking it was BS that the coverage didn't kick in until we had paid into it for a whole year. We were not ttc at the time, but still wanted coverage because I had a difficult experience with some birth control and didn't want to risk not being insured. It was the waiting period for coverage that was stressful, not the cost.

When the ACA was put in place we were one of those households where the insurance we had and liked we did not get to keep. We were dropped and forced into a new plan and our premium shot up. When my daughter was born in 2011 we had been paying $268/month for my husband and I with maternity coverage.. we were forced into a new plan that was initially $380 and went up to $686 over 3 years time. We held off ttc because our premium would have gone up significantly with the add of one person to the plan.

We now have coverage through my employer for our family of three, and our share our of my check is $490/month, which I think is great considering our coverage is quite extensive and the premium won't change even if we add more kids to our family. My company offers two plan options and both automatically include maternity for everyone, no option to opt out.

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I have not. My insurance has phenomenal coverage. I work for a hospital. My maternity copay was $50 and covered EVERYTHING. Even a lengthy NICU stay and critical transport. Oddly they do have u pay the maternity copay twice if mom is discharged before baby.

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No I haven't in the past, but it's looking like I might have to soon 😔

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Another reason I love our health care system here in Canada 🇨🇦

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I have been paying for the last 3 yrs. About 200 extra a month to stull NOT be pregnant.

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No but the only time I've had health or life insurance was when I was 20 when me and my husband married

Have you ever paid for a maternity rider?

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