Well Baby Visits and Insurance

My plan covers all well visits, even for my older kids and myself and husband. There is a deductible/co-pay for tests. There is something in the health care reform act requiring well visits to be covered but not sure if that took effect or not yet. A lot of insurance plans are covering because it encourages people to go toteh doc before things get bad. For the medical bill swe have gotten this year, the offices/hospital is willing to work with me to pay what is due.

can you look for a plan where wellness and physicals are non deductable?

You should be getting billed for every ob visit. The way the obs bill is they bill for the initial visit. Every visit from that point forward is included in the delivery charge and your visit postnatal visit is also included in the delivery charge. If the dr office has been billing you a copay for each visit then something is wrong.

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You should be getting billed for every ob visit. The way the obs bill is they bill for the initial visit. Every visit from that point forward is included in the delivery charge and your visit postnatal visit is also included in the delivery charge. If the dr office has been billing you a copay for each visit then something is wrong.

Our ded is 700 and wellness visits are not covered. When DS went in for a well baby visit it was 750.00 with the doc and vaccines. OB apps are also not covered and they run about 400.00.

I would love to pay $600/month for 0 deductible! That seems pretty cheap to me. Our well visits or sick visits are never over $100 and I just tell our doctor office that my insurance doesn't pay for immunizations, so we just pay $10/shot (they consider that the County supply). I would just ask your doctor what they would charge you so there are no surprises. My insurance didn't cover prenatal care OR birth/delivery costs! Sometimes I question why we even have insurance at all... we do seem to get the raw end of the deal by being responsible. If I had no insurance at all, I would have gotten major discounts that they would not give me because I had insurance. The whole thing is crazy!

This was about a year ago and I believe it was about 250 with vaccines. Although I would call yor pediatrician office and ask.. Because I know our pediatrician office takes payment plans with charging no interest.
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if you have an insurance that makes you pay the total deductible before you have a normal co-pay for offices visits then your insurance SUCKS. sorry but it does. I have never heard of having to meet your deductible before just having to pay the co-pay at visits. we have our dr appt, pay the co-pay and then get a bill in the mail later for whatever the insurance didnt cover before deductible. and my husbands insurance isnt the greatest either. you should contact the insurance company to make sure this is really how they do things. seems like some super wonky insurance to me.

Most insurance plans still cover a certain percentage of well visits even before the deductible is met. Ours covers 100% of well visits and 80% of other visits, both after co-pay per visit. After the deductible is met, everything is covered at 100%.

My doctor visits are about $125. Vaccines, depending on how many, run anywhere from $25 to $100 per visit. The worst visit I had was when my son was sick and they had to run a bunch of tests. On top of the doctor visit fee, there was about $500 worth of labs run. With the insurance rates, that went down to about $75. Crazy!

I have an HSA, so all the bills run through the insurance company first, get the insurance rate, and are then paid automatically from the HSA. Try having them bill the insurance first before you pay it to see if you get the cheaper rate. And ask your doctor about payment plan options they may have.

ETA: You'd be saving $1,932 in monthly premiums. That is almost your family deductible. How often do you have $2,400 in medical expenses each year? Does your employer have a medical reimbursement option where they take out money pre tax from his check that can be used for medical expenses? For me, I'd definitely switch to the deductible plan. I pay $110 a month for a $5000 deductible plan and my employer puts $2000 each year into my HSA that rolls over to the next year up to $20,000. So it's really like my deductible is $3000. I also have the option of the pre tax account, but you have to use it all each year, otherwise it is forfeited.

3BoysUnder3: There are a ton of insurance plans. The ones that don't have a copay for doctor visits are usually MUCH cheaper. But the tradeoff is that you pay the deductible first, so you have higher out of pocket expenses. It's not wonky, it's just one of the options available.