Bundle of Joy, Bundle of Benefits: Remember to Review Your Insurance Benefits Before Baby Arrives
When we think of “family planning,” we don’t usually consider making changes to insurance benefits proactively. We think this is a rookie mistake. If your response is, ”But I thought insurance benefits provide coverage for medical appointments and care related to pregnancy, labor and delivery?” Yes, that’s true, but did you know that many types of insurance also cover additional support services for perinatal care? What about other benefits that provide tax-advantaged savings? Or insurance policies that serve as a salary replacement in the event of an unexpected medical crisis?
If you’re approaching family planning like we did, reviewing and considering your insurance benefits hasn’t even made it onto your list. But understanding your coverage and options now can relieve so much stress, confusion and frustration down the road. Doesn’t that sound nice?!
Open Enrollment
Most benefits decisions for the upcoming year need to be made during a period of “Open Enrollment” – which typically occurs annually starting in the Fall. Check with your employer or insurance company to find out when your Open Enrollment period is, and then drop it in your calendar with a reminder to review your current elections and make any changes to next years’ coverage before the deadline.
How do you find out what your current elections are and what options are available? Check to see if your employer provides this information through an online portal or ask your company’s HR department. You can also call your insurance company to ask about benefits, coverage and costs.
Benefits to Consider
Keep reading for examples of some commonly-used benefits for expecting and new parents.
Health Insurance Benefits:
Pelvic Floor Physical Therapist: certified physical therapists who help prepare people for childbirth by teaching proper pushing techniques, labor positions, and/or pelvic floor muscle strengthening and coordination, which can help reduce pelvic floor dysfunction related to childbirth and shorten recovery time. During postpartum, a pelvic floor PT can guide you during recovery, assist with pain or other concerns, and/or address issues related to scar tissue or diastasis recti (a separation of abdominal muscles).
Childbirth Doula: these trained professionals provide support before, during and after you’ve had a baby. Doulas may work in tandem with midwives or OBs and can provide extensive insight, as well as physical and emotional support during pregnancy and childbirth.
Postpartum Doula: trained support people who will come to your home after baby is born to help with any number of tasks (think: tidying up the kitchen, folding laundry, helping with older children, feeding baby so mom can rest, answering birthing and baby-related questions, and so much more)!
Lactation Consultant: a certified healthcare professional who will provide support to help with breastfeeding/chestfeeding, including offering assistance with a proper latch, different feeding techniques, and/or other common questions or issues that come up.
Other Benefits:
Short Term Disability (“STD”): an insurance policy that provides full or partial income replacement when a person is medically unable to work due to pregnancy, delivery, or postpartum recovery. STD benefits vary depending on your specific policy, but may typically provide anywhere from 6 to 10 weeks of coverage for postpartum recovery. Some STD policies may also provide additional coverage for a certain number of weeks prior to childbirth if there is a medical need.
Long Term Disability (“LTD”): may not be commonly used for pregnancy, but can serve as a very important benefit if you experience unexpected medical issues during or after pregnancy and cannot return to work as originally expected. Note that this insurance benefit may be offered through your employer and/or you can also obtain a LTD policy personally.
Flexible Spending Account (“FSA”): an account that may be available through your employer, which allows you to reduce your taxable income by setting aside pre-tax funds for eligible medical and dependent care expenses. Eligible expenses can potentially cover costs of prenatal care, childbirth, breastfeeding supplies, and health products like thermometers, bandaids, and sunscreen. It’s very important to make sure you know how to access any funds you’ve set aside in your FSA, what expenses are eligible to be paid for using your FSA, and most importantly – remember that FSA funds cannot be rolled over from year to year – you must “use it or lose it” by the deadline provided.
And a final tip – find out if your insurance reimburses for out-of-network costs. Some providers may be “out-of-network” or may not accept any insurance, but may provide a “super bill” for you to submit to your insurance for reimbursement. This means that you will pay out of pocket for the service, submit the paid invoice to insurance, and they will reimburse their portion of the cost. Some insurance policy administrators may reimburse a significant portion of the costs for out-of-network medical services, so not knowing about this benefit could be costing you a lot of money.
If you have specific questions about your insurance benefits or how your insurance applies to your medical or family situation, we’re here to help! Reach out to us at info@scullyandoleary.com – we’d love to hear from you.
If you’re interested in receiving news and updates as we continue to roll out additional educational content, sign up for our newsletter here.
Please note: The information reflected on this website or blog is not, nor is it intended to be, legal advice. Use of this website or blog does not create an attorney-client relationship between the user and Scully & O’Leary LLC.