Health Insurance HELP!!!!!!!!

Marriage and pregnancy counts as life-changing events so you can enroll without waiting for the usual open enrollment at the end of the year. However, before you cancel your Medicaid, I would call his insurance first to make sure that you'll be covered fully. Find out how long it will take for the insurance to kick in. Some places, the insurance kicks in immediately. Other places, you have to wait until the end of the month or after three months or whatever. Definitely find this out so you can plan how long you keep your Medicaid accordingly. Actually, I'm not sure if you qualify for Medicaid now, since your household income has increased due to your marriage. All questions to solve with phone calls!

Usually an insurance company will allow your husband to add you and your baby to his insurance because of a life changing event (such as marriage) without having to wait for open enrollment (you should do this sooner rather than later though because they may have a time frame and you don't want that option to expire). Once on his insurance, you will be covered and by default so will your baby under his insurance. When your baby is born, you usually have 30 days to officially add your baby to his insurance. Be sure to not go past this date, if you do, they'll happily add you, but they'll bill you for any post-birth/non-insured doctor's visits you've had. We pre-filled out all the forms as much as we could prior to the birth because we knew we'd be totally overwhelmed when the baby came. When he was born, we only had a few boxes to fill in and were able to send the forms in a timely manner. Same goes for any disability benefits you may be able to receive from your state - research ahead of time, fill out all paperwork prior to baby being born so you're not overwhelmed when he/she is born.

Hi A., that kind of hard to answer. First with Medicaid it's based on your income. Find out the guidelines. If your hubby's income is within the guidelines you may be able to stay on Medicaid. Now your husband insurance that's another story. You need to contact someone at your hubby's job and find out what are there rules. Pregnancy may be considered a pre-existing condition. If it is they will not pay anything on your pregnancy, yikes. very expensive nowadays I'm hearing from my friends. Think of an alternative.

Hi A.,

I'm not an insurance specialist, but Medicaid eligibility depends on income, so now that you're married, your household income may be too high for you to get Medicaid.

The other person answering is right in saying that your husband can add you on the insurance now, without waiting for open enrollment. I'm not completely sure about your specific case, but usually employer-provided insurance in NY cannot refuse anyone for pre-existing condition or even exclude the pre-existing condition, so I think your pregnancy will be covered. Have your husband call the HR person in charge of healthcare benefits to ask them about putting you on, and about your pregnancy. And make sure to be added RIGHT NOW to his insurance - pregnancy is a pretty expensive medical thing, and you don't want to have to pay more bills than necessary.

Hi A., Congrats on your pregnancy. I'm sure there is someone you can ask. I hope this works out for you. Mary