Instead of mandatory maternity coverage, supplemental insurance

Posted on June 2, 2010 by Brian Schwartz

Colorado Governor Bill Ritter signed Colorado HB 1021 into law last week.  The Denver Business Journal reports that it requires “all small-group and individual health insurance policies to include contraception and pregnancy coverage” “Proponents of [HB 1021] said it provides women with services that they sometimes had difficulty obtaining from their insurer.”

Then why not mandate that insurers offer a rider for contraception and prenatal coverage (optional supplement), instead of forcing everyone to pay the extra premium costs? That way, only people who want this coverage would buy it, and it would be available.

Could it be that the real reason is to use the strong arm of the law to further distort insurance into mandatory charity? That is, turn insurance into a tax?

The same argument can be made for all mandated benefits. A ballpark figure is that each mandate increases premiums by about 0.75%.

As for supplemental maternity coverage, HealthQuote360.com’s page on maternity insurance says:

Yes, most individual health plans will allow for an optional maternity benefit rider to be added to the plan for an additional cost. Almost all plans will have a waiting period of 6-12 months before any (or full) benefits will be paid out for maternity expenses.

Jane Molnar at MaternityInsurance.org writes:

… The best thing to do in this situation is get supplemental maternity insurance.  Most health insurance companies offer this for families that are going through a pregnancy.  This would be an addition to your current health coverage.  This supplement would cover any health visits that are related to the pregnancy.

I’d be more confident of how available these products are if I could find some quotes on-line, or documentation that they exist.  Comments on this are welcome.

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  • Tawanda

    I currently have individual health insurance coverage and have been looking for options to cover maternity costs. If I add a maternity rider to my current insurance I will currently have to wait 9 months before I can even start trying to get pregnant and will continue to have to pay until I conceive and deliver…an unknown time-line. The costs will be heavy. So I started looking into supplemental insurance and haven't found any luck whatsoever. I have talked to a few independent insurance sales people and have found that most carriers in Colorado have canceled their maternity supplemental policies, so we are not left with many options, if any. Basically what I have found is that you have to have a group policy (employer provided insurance) in order to be covered for a pregnancy in an affordable matter because the cost of maternity coverage is spread out to all the individuals being covered (men and women). This is why it is so exciting that the new bill 1021 has passed, it actually provides a more affordable option for individuals who maintain individual health insurance policies.

  • Tawanda

    I currently have individual health insurance coverage and have been looking for options to cover maternity costs. If I add a maternity rider to my current insurance I will currently have to wait 9 months before I can even start trying to get pregnant and will continue to have to pay until I conceive and deliver…an unknown time-line. The costs will be heavy. So I started looking into supplemental insurance and haven't found any luck whatsoever. I have talked to a few independent insurance sales people and have found that most carriers in Colorado have canceled their maternity supplemental policies, so we are not left with many options, if any. Basically what I have found is that you have to have a group policy (employer provided insurance) in order to be covered for a pregnancy in an affordable matter because the cost of maternity coverage is spread out to all the individuals being covered (men and women). This is why it is so exciting that the new bill 1021 has passed, it actually provides a more affordable option for individuals who maintain individual health insurance policies.

  • vishawa

    If you have recently lost your Best Private Health Insurance will cause the cost of your medical insurance to increase. Understanding the different types of insurance and how they work, will help you to prepare.