One common, key determining factor that decides whether a family will welcome their little one in the hospital or at home is the financial situation of the family. Some have substandard insurance coverage and a hospital delivery would be far too much out of pocket. Others are under the impression that their insurance company will not cover homebirth and they sadly, settle for a hospital delivery.

 

Our goal is to dispel the myths!

 

Insurance does cover midwifery services. At times the coverage will be considered "Out of Network", since all local midwives practicing out of hospital are not contracted with or signed as "In-Network" with any insurance company. This means that after you fulfill your slightly higher Out-of-Network deductible, insurance will typically pay 60% of the fees charged, leaving you with a responsibility of the remaining 40% as coinsurance.

 

In an effort to educate the insurance companies of your rights as a consumer, we will guide you in obtaining a In-Network Exception/Gap Waiver. The exception is granted on the basis that there are no providers in your area who provide home delivery services. In most private insurance policies, if a certain type of provider is not contracted with that insurance company, they must pay in-network rates for the charges charged.

The first step in the process is to verify eligibility and benefits. We are able to perform this verification instantly and can have the information available to you at your consultation appointment. When contacting the Midwife, include your Name, Date of Birth, Carrier, Relationship to Policyholder and ID Number.

 

Alamo Area Midwifery can instantly verify that you have current benefits for the following insurance carriers*:

 

Aetna

Blue Cross Blue Shield

CIGNA

United Healthcare

Great West Life

Humana

TRICARE South

Wellcare Health Plans

 

Please call or e-mail if your carrier is not listed, verification can be done by phone.

 

If you do not have insurance coverage or if you have Medicaid coverage, payment plans and/or discounted rates may be available to you. Please call or e-mail Alamo Area Midwifery for more information.

 

*Please note that this list is not a list of insurance companies with which we are contracted or affiliated. As of this moment, there are no Texas Licensed Midwives "In-Network" with these insurance companies. We hope that in the future, this will not be the case.


By comparison, in regards to fees for a hospital birth and fees for complete midwifery care, there is no question which is more affordable. Hospital fees (including the fees for doctor and nursing services, anesthesiology, supplies, etc) for a standard, uncomplicated delivery will start at approximately $10,000.00. Many new parents are shocked to see this number. And it will only increase with the numerous interventions that are usually applied in hospital, one resulting in another. During your first visit to the OB/GYN office you are usually presented with the amount that will ultimately be charged to you, this is usually around $2,500.00. That amount ONLY covers prenatal visits, their services at the hospital (usually includes 1-4 hours of time nearby the patient and does not include the facility fees, nursing care fees, newborn care fees, supplies, room fees, etc) and approximately two postpartum visits, 10-15 minutes face-to-face time each.

 

The total, cash-pay fee for homebirth, midwifery services is: $3,300.00.

 

This includes all prenatal appointments, standard labwork, labor evaluation, labor attendance, delivery attendance, second licensed midwife as delivery assistant, newborn stabilization, postpartum & newborn care for the first 2-3 hours following stabilization, breastfeeding assistance, complete-indepth newborn exam, in-home visits, approximately five postpartum and newborn care visits for the first 6 weeks, all visits with at least 45-60 minute face-to-face time (more if necessary), 24 hour on-call for ANY issues and a sense of safety in knowing that your midwife is highly trained and skilled in early identification of any complications that may arise and will make referrals accordingly.

 

It is easy to see that the fees are minimal when compared to a natural hospital delivery, especially when all of the things a midwife provides are listed out. In the hospital, these tasks are deligated to many other people and the birthing mother and newborn are no longer people in the eyes of the "staff", they are a "patient"... a number. With the services provided by Alamo Area Midwifery, you remain a person and the quality and continuity of care is the highest there is.

 

Alamo Area Midwifery will determine payment plan amounts at the first visit to your midwife, following benefits verification. Payments may be submitted online with a credit card or at the following prental visits via check, cash, or credit card.

 

Credit Card Information: In these uncertain economic times, some parents find that they are unable to afford the cash-pay fee, listed above, in the time alloted for the payment plan. We encourage these parents to take a look at their financial situation and consider the option of opening a credit card, line of credit with any one of the local banks in the San Antonio Area. This option gives much more flexibility in regards to extending the payment of the balance on the account, thus giving the option of having lower payments. AAM can reccommend several banks in the area which offer credit line financing. Because you can't put a price on the memories of your child's birth!

 

Please review the Financial Policy of Alamo Area Midwifery for more financial information.

 

 

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