Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
girls who are/were pregnant
I have a question about the cost of prenatal services (not including delivery). I don't know how appropriate is my question and if anybody would like to share their information with me. I'm about to sign a contract with a prenatal clinic for their services and we have a good (international) insurance that covers all these costs. The problem is that they have three types of packages: Standard, luxe and VIP. From what I heard american clinics do not have any packages, they just provide whatever services you need. Our insurance company does not have an office here but has another insurance company that represents them and takes some percentage for dealing with our invoices/paperwork.
I want to choose the Luxe package that has unlimited number of visits and tests unlike the Standard package. Now the insurance girl is afraid that it would be difficult to justify the cost of the Luxe package to the international insurance company as the package also includes the cost of some tests/visits that I may not even need, but the clinic requests 100% advance payment right away when you sign a contract.
She suggests that we use the first package with limited number of tests/visits with a condition that they will also cover any additional costs if I need additional services.
The package I was considering is $7,800 and the standard one is $4,800. My question is how much did you/your insurance company pay to the clinic for your prenatal services? We have no idea how much medical services cost in the states and want to make sure that these numbers are not totally ridiculous. When I had an u/s done in the states they charged us $200 and it costs me around $135 here (Russia). Based on your experience do you think that $7,800 is a lot to pay and justify for the insurance company? We also don't want to stand out among other clients as we will still need the insurance company to cover the delivery if I successfully get to that part. Thank you!
Re: girls who are/were pregnant
Can you give us an idea of what tests each level covers? $7800 does not sound excessive to me for 9 months worth of care.
I'm not going to be too much help because I essentially pay nothing out of pocket except $16/day for hospital stay when I deliver because I have Tricare (military insurance)/
TTC #1 13 cycles, CP 6/09, TTC #2 1 cycle
CDing, EP'd for 13 months for #1, BFing for #2
Pregnancy Hypertension - inductions at 39w, I grow big babies: DD was 9 pounds 1 ounce 22 inches, DS was 11 pounds even 22 inches - both vaginal deliveries
I had a one time co-pay of $10 for all my prenatal care and delivery.
However we were sent statements. Each monthly doctors visit (height/weight, urine test, blood pressure, and listening to the hb) was around $250. Remember that does to twice a month in the thrid tri and weekly around 34 weeks. I had a growth u/s at 9 weeks, $350. The NT scan at 12 weeks $700. The anatomy scan at 20 weeks $1300. And one more growth scan at 34 weeks $250. As far as blood work goes I had it drawn 3 times to check for STDs and hormone levels throught the pregnancy that was $200 each time. Then the 1 hour glucose was $100.
Now for delievery, my water broke without any contractions so they put me on piticon right away. I had a narcotic pain med and then an epidural. For the birth itself it was just a regular vaginal birth with no compications. I had 3 very small tears to fix. I was there for 2 nights. My total for just the hospital/deivery was $45,700.
So either plan is a bargin I would think. Just check over what the basic one entails. Also when they say they will cover what is not included does that mean fully cover or what??
My OB charges $3500 for her services which includes all prenatal care and delivery. Of that, so far I have had to pay a $20.00 copay (you only have to pay one copay since the maternity care is considered one espense). This does not include any labs/us just office visits. I have not received bills/Explanation of Benefits from every thing yet, but I know that the NT Scan was around $700 (I paid $120), and I forget how much the glucose tests were (I had the one hour and the three hour) but I want to say that I have paid $50.00 total for those. The biggie for me so far was that I was sent to L&D triage a couple of weeks back for lower pelvic pain I was having. I was at the hosp for a little over two hours, they hooked me up to a fetal monitor to watch the baby and I talked to a nurse. That is it. $900.00!!! So far I have not received any bill for it just the breakdown from the hospital so I am assuming that it is being covered by ins.
I am in a bit of a different position in that my insurance changed three times during my pregnancy, so my co-pays and deductibles have been all over the place. I think that all in all, go for the best you can get. I asked the girls here a similar question about upgrading our insurance and it was the best decision I made. Even though we are paying more on a monthly basis for ins, it is really helping with all of the labs and extras tests that your doctor may decide to run that you don't really think about ahead of time, not to mention that two hour hospital stay!