Planning for baby....Help!

[Nebraska girl]

My husband and I would like to have a baby in about a year and a half. I'm only 24 and even though I'm married, my parents can keep me on their insurance as well until I'm 26, I guess? I remember when we had our son, at our first doctor appointment they sent me to the billing department and looked at the cost of a delivery, a normal situation for both types of deliveries. The cost they gave me was under $1,000.00 back then out of pocket.

Here's my point - we are planning for it, but obviously not pregnant right now. Does anyone know if the billing department would normally be willing to speak to me about what the cost would be right now (I realize the cost may go up in the next year and a half or so) and with the insurance I have? We are trying to plan whether we will need $1,000.00 or $8,000.00 for the delivery.

All responses are greatly appreciated!

[Thrif-t]

Sure I see no reason they wouldn't talk to you, seems like that is the way they want insurance to work, people to shop around. You probably should call your insurance company 800# and explain it all to them, they might or might not be able to give you figures for a particular hospital. They might tell you they need the billing codes in which case you'd have to call the hospital billing and talk to them to get the codes to be able to then call the insurance and figure out the cost.

It's a pain but I've done this for a procedure my daughter was having and I was trying to figure out what facility we should use due to cost.

[phantom]

I think you're insurance company is definitely the place to start with questions about costs. I recently had a baby and planned to put money in my husband's FSA if costs were going to be high. So, I called the insurance company to check what I'd be paying. (It turned out everything was completely covered!) In addition to asking about the cost of the delivery, you might also want to ask about your coverage for doctor's visits (I had at least 13), testing, classes, and a breast pump.