Maternity Benefits: No longer a common offering
As the landscape of our nation’s health care system continues to change, products and benefits offered by the many carriers change as well. While the health care reform will eventually force the carriers to shoulder higher risk individuals, who would have been declined coverage prior to the legislation, the carriers are scrambling to find ways to manage this risk while remaining profitable. One way to accomplish this task is through minimizing benefits.
A necessary benefit to many newlyweds and young families is maternity coverage. Such coverage, which has commonly been included on individual and family policies, is quickly becoming a benefit of the past. Carriers, such as Aetna, Humana and United Health Care, to name a few, have dropped all coverage relating to maternity with the hope of providing internal savings on claims. While this may provide savings to the carriers, it will certainly require policy holders to pay largely out of pocket toward the cost of pregnancies.
Although maternity benefits are certainly facing extinction from the majority, there are still a couple of well known carriers that remain loyal to the coverage. Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield continues to offer maternity coverage for individuals and families. There are, however, stipulations to purchasing maternity coverage: 1) Maternity is only available to Blue Access - Plan 2, Lumenos HSA and Premier plans; 2) With Lumenos and Premier plans, the deductible must be $2,500 or greater. As well, policy holders must complete a nine month waiting period (270 days) prior to receiving any benefits. Members can also expect to see a 35-45% increase in premiums as a result of purchasing a maternity rider.
Another carrier that continues to offer maternity coverage is Medical Mutual of Ohio. With a strong network in Ohio, and an aggressive campaign to write policies on the individual and family level, Medical Mutual is a carrier that should not be overlooked. Much like Anthem, maternity coverage comes with exceptions. For example, maternity is only available on SuperMed One Elite and Premium plans and, unlike Anthem, it’s not available with their HSA product (Wellness HSA). The cost associated with this coverage is not cheap, with premiums exceeding $400 per month just for the rider alone and there is a nine month waiting period as well. However, the rider affords the policy holder the peace of mind in knowing should any problems arise throughout the pregnancy, they are covered and their exposure to risk is limited.
Going forward, maternity coverage may very well be eliminated from all carrier offerings. Yet, for the time being, there are still options available to people who want to manage the costs of a pregnancy. If you would like to know more about maternity benefits, feel free to contact an agent of Chaser Insurance Group at (877)775-4321.
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