Help - Aussie moving to US. Birth Insurance question

[Samara1]

Hi All,

My husband is a dr and has been offered a job in the US. The job comes with Insurance which covers family.

My question is - will there be a waiting period before I am covered for the costs of the birth?

In Aust we can take out private health insurance, but you need to be covered for a year before giving birth. If I gave birth in Aust I would be fine, but my husband is due to start work in July and I am worried that I will have no coverage when I am due in Oct.

thanks....

[Hoekey]

Unfortunately it all depends on the insurance he is offered. Typically they do not cover a pre-existing condition. Which if you are already pregnant then it is pre-existing. Although most people who work in the health care system, especially if it is for a hospital, have top insurance. Those cover pre-existing, no matter what the illness. Could be diabetes, cancer, HIV, etc... and you would still be covered. You will have to do a little more investigating into what insurance he is being offered and whether or not they cover a pre-existing condition. Don't quote me but I believe that Priority Health & Blue Cross Blue Shield both do. I am about 99% positive that Priority Health does and about 85% sure that BCBS does too. I have had both and have never had a decline of coverage from either. I do believe that you do have to have some sort of coverage prior to your acceptance but your NHS should qualify you. Although I am not really familiar with how that works or if it is considered insurance or not. I would just recommend finding out what the policy is and investigating. There are so many different private insurances in the US and they are all a bit different. Good news is that regardless of whether you're covered or not, as soon as the baby is born they are automatically covered.

(Maybe if your hubby is really desired for his position he can work out an agreement that his new employer will cover your medical expenses if they are not covered by insurance) My DH has done this for one of our employees that we needed. We do not have dental or optical insurance. We offered to cover one year of those services for this particular employee.

Good luck to you, and welcome to the US!!

[Samara1]

Thanks so much. I really appreciate your response.

I have found the contact numbers for the insurance company so plan on giving them a call when the time zones overlap.

Insurance is such a nightmare!

[2ndtimer]

Hi Samara,
I work for an insurance company and know first hand how complicated it can all be. The industry trend now to do away with pre-existing conditions. It's not cost effective if the person is not seeking out healthcare for the first year(or whatever the time period is). Unfortunately, it's still popular with individual companies and that's who chooses the benefit packages for their employees.
Personally, I would not worry too much about the pregnancy being considered a pre-existing -especially since your husband is a doctor. I would expect you to have very good insurance.
Good Luck with your pregnancy & move to the US!
2ndtimer