If youre x eligible NJ Family care...

amother

Apricot

Thu, Jun 25 2020, 9:35 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

In NY, pregnancy is considered a life changing event. I assumed the marketplace is same all over. Hope will be able to get insurance elsewhere

amother

Thu, Jun 25 2020, 9:53 am

[quote="amother [ Apricot ]"]Sorry op I live in NY and I dont think your information is right. Giving birth is a qualifying event but finding out you're pregnant is not. You can try to get private insurance but many of them wont cover any pregnancy charges if you sign up after you are already pregnant.

All my other pregnancies I got insurance as soon as I found out I'm pregnant. It was considered a life changing event. I had to send in proof of pregnancy and got insurance right away. Broker just confirmed with me too.

amother

Apricot

Thu, Jun 25 2020, 10:02 am

[quote="amother [ OP ]"]

amother [ Apricot ] wrote:

Sorry op I live in NY and I dont think your information is right. Giving birth is a qualifying event but finding out you're pregnant is not. You can try to get private insurance but many of them wont cover any pregnancy charges if you sign up after you are already pregnant.

All my other pregnancies I got insurance as soon as I found out I'm pregnant. It was considered a life changing event. I had to send in proof of pregnancy and got insurance right away. Broker just confirmed with me too.

Are you referring to Medicaid? Because that you can get when you are pregnant. Regular marketplace insurance you cant since at least 2016.

amother

Lemon

Thu, Jun 25 2020, 10:54 am

NY is a state in which pregnancy is a qualifying event so one can obtain health insurance. I believe it is the only state.

Pregnancy is not a qualifying event in New Jersey

And this provision is because it is so overwhelmingly a blue state. It is also the reason Medicaid is so generous. Very Happy

amother

Thu, Jun 25 2020, 11:00 am

amother [ Lemon ] wrote:

So that means I cant get any insurance now during pregnancy. Help!! What do I do?!?!?

amother

Lemon

Thu, Jun 25 2020, 11:09 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

So that means I cant get any insurance now during pregnancy. Help!! What do I do?!?!?

I don't think there is anything you can do because the purpose of having limited Open Enrollment Periods is to prevent people from obtaining insurance when they find out they need expensive medical care. You could contact an insurance broker and find out if there are any loopholes.

The economics of health insurance require everyone to purchase insurance or else people would game the system and only buy insurance when they need it. How does this make sense as you would be paying a small amount of money for insurance knowing that you were immediately going to need expensive care. This drives up the cost of insurance for those who purchase insurance because insurance is based on there being a risk pool in which some people don't need expensive care and others need it. It's like car insurance - most people don't have expensive accidents but they purchase car insurance.

You made an economic decision that you didn't have to pay premiums because you could game the system by purchasing insurance only when you needed it. Presumably the amount of premiums you didn't pay for and the money you saved can go towards your current medical expenses. I feel strongly about this since I scrimped to pay premiums many years because I knew how vital it was for medical needs even though most years my actual medical expenses weren't as high as my premiums.

You can find out what the expenses are for self paying patients and try to negotiate as good a rate as you can. You will be eligible for insurance starting January 2021 and your baby will be eligible as soon as he/she is born.

amother

Amber

Thu, Jun 25 2020, 11:13 am

amother [ Lemon ] wrote:

This.
What was your plan for medical emergencies until now?