[USER]

Me (33) and my husband (36) are starting to think about having kids. We have an HSA.

Is it recommended to get a regular insurance plan with a low deductible while pregnant?

We make ~$375k per year together.

[Stephanie]

I just had a baby on high deductible plan. I had to hit $1600 deductible and my out of pocket maximum was $3000, so I hit that and that was that… never paid anywhere close to $15-25k!

I’m sure the original hospital bill was that or more- but surely op would have an OOP maximum, right!?

[Kammerer]

I dont think it’s necessary to change due to having a baby. I had my baby 1.5 years ago (when I was 37) while on a high deductible medical plan while contributing to my HSA and it wasnt bad at all.

I had a high risk pregnancy with alot of doctor visits and an emergency c section too.

My max out of pocket was $3500 so thats all I paid.

[Jared]

Likely high deductible and maxing that HSA for you. You’re in a high tax bracket so using an HSA will save you a lot in taxes.

A normal/healthy pregnancy will cost $15-25k btw.

[Noemí]

I switched to Kaiser during both pregnancies for peace of mind. The additional premium cost was less than the max out of pocket under a high-deductible, so it made sense for me.

My 2nd baby ended up in the PICU for 5 nights at 2 months old due to RSV so I was glad to have everything covered and know exactly where to go versus having to figure out in-network versus out-of network providers.

Other than those delivery years, I stick to a high-deductible plan.

Any well-being check ups are covered under preventative care under a high-deductible plan including all the required shots so you don’t have to worry about cost for those.

[Cally]

We went high deductible and no copays or out of pocket once met. As Pam said again we wanted the most stuff covered without all the copays adding up.

Remembering that costs can get out of control with a NICU stay or maybe even C-section.

We are in Montana and our premium is $900/month with $8k deductible but we are self employed so that might be more pricey than you can get through an employer

[Lauren]

My out of pocket was 2500, but my daughter had a NICU stay for 4 days. That ran us $7000.

But most of the time, youre going to pay a few thousand out of pocket.

[Alisha]

I would. My spouse and I just had our first. We both had some complications. We also live rurally so one helicopter ride to a higher level hospital was $162k.

I paid $0 since my insurance deduct is $500 and we hit that pretty early on with all the labs, us, and visits you do.

My paycheck contribution is like $400/mo so worth it imo.

[Pam]

You really need to do the math on the options available to you, and your health situation.

I was high risk and high cost, but out of the options available with my employer, the high deductible was the better deal, although we hit out of pocket max in two calendar years for both pregnancies (babies born in may/june).

The low deductible one had higher copays and did not consider all my specialist visits and extra ultrasounds to be part of standard prenatal care – so they would have added up very quickly also.

[Elizabeth]

Yes absolutely. Health costs don’t stop at labor and delivery. The kids will have lots of check ups.

There’s also emergencies and dental care to think about too.

[Rebecca]

I intentionally stayed on hdhp through both pregnancies and also through some planned surgeries for myself and my husband.

Also of course have had plenty of unplanned things arise but over time we are still ahead from where we would have been if donating our money to the insurance company every year.

Been on hdhp since 2009/2010.

[Author]

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