I recently had my first baby through midwifery care, which cost $6,400 out of pocket due to insurance not covering at home births. Home births are cheaper than hospital births! Why wouldnt insurance want more of this?
At home births create a stress free and safe place for mom, dad and baby - thus creating a healthier baby from moment ONE. A place for the mother to have a voice on her birth preferences AND it be covered by insurance.
I recently had my first baby through midwifery care, which cost $6,400 out of pocket due to insurance not covering at home births. Home births are cheaper than hospital births! Why wouldnt insurance want more of this?
At home births create a stress free and safe place for mom, dad and baby - thus creating a healthier baby from moment ONE. A place for the mother to have a voice on her birth preferences AND it be covered by insurance.
I paid $6,000 for my first home birth and $7,000 for my second home birth. Completely out of pocket. I would love to see insurance cover midwives and our births!
I agree, homebirthers are being conscientious and cost efficient in their choice of birthing at home with midwives. I suggest though, do not involve insurance at all. I would hate to see our midwives bogged down with haggling with insurance companies to get paid, and as we know, insurance drives the cost of everything up. A straight voucher for the cost of care would be easier for all parties to incorporate without changing the tone of care.
To add to that - I think ALL insurances should provide a Health Savings Account that allows us the freedom to use those funds towards Midwifery care at HOME.
I’m a former home birth midwife. I get the sentiment, and yet I’m very concerned about this approach. In places where midwifery has become part of the system, it inevitably gets corrupted away from the freedom=loving autonomous radical birthing that produces strong and courageous women in children. SLowly but surely midwives become more controlled and women’s choices become more restricted, and midwives work to follow the rules and keep their license, which isn’t always best for moms and babies. More important than insurance coverage I think is preserving autonomous midwifery–meaning NOT CRIMINALIZING women who choose to give birth and assist birth outside the system. Insurance reimbursement goes part and parcel with licensure, which goes directly into state control, which is everything I want to get away from. Policy should be to protect freedom, not find more ways to get people into the system.
I want to have a home birth, hospital often over diagnose and create higher stress which can lead to more issues. At the minimum have it covered as some sort of voucher or HSA use ability
All 6 of my children were born at home in the 1980’s. At that time, there were no midwives in the area where we lived. My husband caught all 6 babies, cut the cord, etc. We were blessed to have access to the medical library at a state University, which included video. My first child cost $25 in supplies from Walgreen’s. Not sure why, even in this economy, a homebirth could cost thousands of dollars…