01/26/2005 Entry: "Insurance Company Update #1"

So PreZ called the insurance company. That's the upside of a west-coast based provider, you can still call them in the east-coast evening.

I wish these people would get their damn story straight. We were told over a month ago that it was approved and to go ahead and book an appointment, hence we finally booked a midwife's appointment (my first appointment was at 11 weeks and I'd been trying to sort that crap out since like 6-7 weeks/before Thanksgiving). They told the midwife's billing agent that it had been denied. They told PreZ just now that it was currently still under investigation.

So that's a Yes, a No, and a Maybe.

They also told the billing agent that homebirths aren't covered, but they told PreZ they are. The billing agent had also been trying to get a hold of them since December, and yesterday was the first time she'd managed to get a hold of them since like Dec 27th.

Oh, and apparantly I need to have a reason to have a homebirth. And saving them money isn't a good enough one (I figured that might be a good one seeing as it's a capitalist concept which would appeal to money grubbing insurance providers). I find it patently ridiculous to need to give a reason for wanting a homebirth, surely people don't have to give reasons to volountarily give birth in hospitals?

If they really need a reason, then they can have these ones:

Studies have shown that:
- It is safer to have a homebirth (of course granted you're not a high risk pregnancy).
- There are generally less complications at a homebirth.
- There is less chance of unnecessary medical intervention and c-sections with a homebirth (the homebirth/midwife c-section rate is half that of the national average, and the c-section rates of countries where hospital births are not the norm/as popular as here are *much* lower than in the US, which leads the way with the highest c-section rate).
- The rates of infection, morbidity and mortality are lower with homebirth.
- The incidents of episiotomy ("the snip") are lower, and you're likely to tear less.
- it's less stressful to be in a comfortable environment surrounded by people you know/love and only those you want there, not an endless barrage of strangers.

And as a final one, it's what I WANT, and they can choke on that one.

Now our midwife has to call the insurance company on a speshul phone number to discuss something with, I believe, the caseworker. Gah.