How to Get Low Cost Maternity Health Insurance

Fifteen percent of American women do not have maternity health insurance and face overwhelming medical bills, especially if there are medical complications. Here’s how to get low cost maternity health insurance that could save you from financial disaster.

What is maternity health insurance?

Maternity health insurance is a health insurance plan that includes maternity coverage. As of this writing there are no stand-alone maternity health insurance plans.

You can purchase one of the following types of plans to get maternity coverage:

* An indemnity plan which lets you choose your own doctor and hospital, but is the most expensive type of plan.

* A managed health care plan (HMO, PPO, POS) that assigns you to a network of doctors and hospitals that you use for your medical care. These are the cheapest types of plans.

What does maternity health insurance cover?

Standard maternity health insurance policies cover your doctors expenses, your hospital fees, and your prescriptions drugs – basically all your maternity medical expenses.

Can I get maternity health insurance if I’m already pregnant?

Private insurance companies will not insure you if you’re already pregnant, but some states offer Medicaid health insurance, or plans such as California’s Medi-Cal, to low income families. To see if your your state has a low income maternity health insurance program, visit your state’s department of insurance website.

If you’re pregnant and don’t qualify for state sponsored maternity health insurance, the best thing you can do is call the hospitals in your area and see if you can negotiate a cheaper than normal rate. Most hospitals will give you a discount if you pay cash.

Where can I get cheap maternity health insurance?

The best way to get cheap maternity health insurance is to go to an insurance comparison website where you can get rate quotes from multiple insurance companies.

Visit or click on the following link to get maternity health insurance rate quotes from top-rated companies and see how much you can save. You can get more insurance tips in their Articles section, and get answers to your questions from an insurance expert by using their online chat service.

The author, Brian Stevens, is a former insurance agent and financial consultant who has written a number of articles on how to get low cost maternity health insurance.

Affordable Kentucky Individual Health Insurance

Most Kentucky residents get health insurance through an employer-sponsored group health plan. If you do not come under such a plan, that’s when you should consider finding affordable Kentucky individual health insurance to cover yourself and your family. Individual and family health insurance plans are available for newborns on up to the seniors at age 65, self-employed and unemployed persons and students.

Selecting an Affordable Health Insurance Plan

Insurance companies offer different kinds of private individual health insurance plans for Kentucky residents. These include indemnity health insurance (fee-for-service), HMO (health maintenance organization) plans, PPO (preferred provider organization) plans, POS (point-of-service) plans, and HSA (health savings account) plans. A greater choice of doctors and hospitals usually means that a plan will cost more.

Leading insurance companies offering affordable health insurance in Kentucky include Humana, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Aetna and United. They offer various kinds of policies depending on the kind of coverage you need and the state of your health. A health plan would cost more for a person with health issues. However, according to recent legislation, individuals cannot be denied health insurance because of a pre-existing condition.

The best way to find an affordable Kentucky health plan is first see how much premium you can afford to pay and then look for a plan that meets your budget as well as the health needs of your family. You need to compare the quotes for the plans from various health insurance companies. Premiums differ for different kinds of individual health plans. Besides traditional health coverage and HSA-qualified High Deductible Health Plans, it would be helpful if there is a provision to add on optional benefits such as dental, life and supplemental accident coverage for an additional cost.

Get Professional Advice

Professional companies that represent leading insurance providers in Kentucky offer expert guidance on selecting the right kind of health insurance plan. They can help you get quotes and compare them to get affordable individual Kentucky health insurance.

How to Get an Affordable Health Insurance Quote if You’re Self Employed

Getting an affordable health quote if you’re self employed can be a real hassle. However you can find affordable rates if you know where to look and how to structure your insurance. Here’s how …

An Affordable Health Insurance Plan

The first thing you need to do is figure out what type of plan will best suit your needs. There are four basic plans to consider:

1. FFS (Fee-For-Service) plans, also known as indemnity plans, are the most expensive health insurance plans and involve the most paperwork. With these plans you can choose your own doctor and your own hospital. Deductibles average $500 to $1,000 and you’ll be responsible for 20% of the bill.

2. HMO (Health Maintenance Organization) plans are the least expensive and the least flexible health insurance plans. HMOs provide you with a network of doctors which you must see. You’ll be required to pay a small copayment, usually $5 to $15 for each doctor visit, and you need permission from your plan’s primary care physician to see an in-network specialist.

3. PPO (Preferred Provider Organization) plans cost slightly more than HMOs but are more flexible. Copayments are about the same as an HMO’s, and you’re allowed to see a network specialist without your primary physician’s permission. If you see a non-network specialist you may have to pay the entire bill, pay the difference between network charges and what the specialist charges, or pay a deductible.

4. POS (Point-Of-Service) plans cost more than PPOs and less than FFSs, and are a combination of the two plans. These plans provide you with a network of physicians who will treat you. Your copayment is about the same as that of a PPO, but you can see a non-network physician and the plan will reimburse him or her.

Getting an Affordable Quote

In the good ol’ days, prior to the Internet, you could spend half your life visiting local insurance companies or calling insurance agents on the phone to get health insurance quotes. Now, thanks to the Internet, getting quotes is a piece of cake.

You can go to an insurance comparison website, fill out a single questionnaire, and get quotes from different companies. Some of the better sites even have an insurance expert who will answer all your health insurance questions online. (See link below,)

Visit or click on the following link to get affordable health insurance quotes from top-rated companies in your area and see how much you can save. You can get more health insurance tips by checking out their “Articles” section.

The author, Brian Stevens, is a former insurance agent and financial consultant who has written numerous articles on affordable health insurance for the self-employed.