Maternity Coverage Lies

Yesterday I was on the phone with our insurance company. I was very upset, because I learned they really won't be covering anything since I became pregnant within the first yr of it. And this is supposed to be maternity coverage?! After browsing online forums I quickly learned that the first prenatal visit alone can total anywhere from $200 to $2000. Wow. I am definitely going to be shopping around now that we have to pay pretty much all of it OOP. Hopefully, Rob will get a job at a church in time, and we will be covered under his group insurance (since group insurance can't treat pregnancy as a pre-existing condition). If not, we will probably qualify for medicaid.

Either way, I am still upset, because we have paid over $400 so far in just the maternity coverage part of our insurance. FOR NOTHING! That's $400 that could have been saved for doctor visits. I guess it just goes to show that insurance companies really are jacked up. When people comment that having a lot of kids are expensive, they are probably referring to the fact that each one cost around $10,000 just to pop out. I have heard stories of women who made too much money to qualify for medicaid but didn't have insurance or were under-insured like me, and they now have thousands upon thousands of dollars in medical debt just for being a woman. Because, people, the woman's body is meant to have babies, and that, apparently, is something we must try and combat with all our medical technology. When did having a baby, such a natural event that has been happening for thousands of years, become a disease that needs to be cured? When the hospitals realized they could profit from it, that's when.

Training for a normal birth:

I just don't believe that you should have to pay someone $5,000 to say "push" and cut an umbilical cord.

Yes, I think that the advancements in medical technology have helped save the lives of many women and babies, but the MAJORITY of pregnancies and labor have no complications.

Practically all babies are born in hospitals in the United States, the most in the developed world. Yet, our babies are not healthier for it- the infant mortality rate is ON THE RISE in the USA. 50% of all women have C-sections. C-sections are THE MOST COMMONLY performed procedure in hospitals today. Some hospitals are now forbidding mothers from giving birth vaginally if they have had a previous C-section.

The birthing system is messed up.