Insurance

We sort-of accidentally applied for state health insurance earlier this week and are both feeling uneasy about it. How does one accidentally apply for insurance? Well, the hospital pre-bills based on estimates for a normal delivery, but before we sent in the check we called the aid office listed on the bill. A friend in Ohio had told us to check because the hospitals they have had their kids at had discounts on the post-insurance costs that are tied to income. And since they qualified for a discount and make significantly more than we do, she figured we could save a chunk of money.

So we called, figuring if there was an automatic discount, that would be great. We can pay the bill, but a few hundred extra dollars in our bank account would certainly make us happy. Well, MD apparently doesn’t have those automatic discount things, but the guy Joe talked to on the phone said that based on our income we should definitely come in because we probably qualify for assistance. So we went in and filled out a whole form, thinking that this was for the state to pick up a piece of the hospital costs for the delivery. We weren’t quite sure what we thought about this, but figured we could use the money and really that it was better to have the paperwork in because any complications would send the bill soaring and then it would really matter.

And then, as we’re getting ready to leave, the guy says something along the lines of, “okay, if you’re approved you’ll get a packet in the mail and have to pick one of the insurance providers.” Wait, what? Apparently this isn’t a one-time aid thing, but applying for state insurance as a secondary medical insurance policy. Now this makes us really uneasy. We don’t need this, right? But, on the other hand, all insurance policies cover different things and one that is actually designed for kids would probably cover immunizations and such better than ours will, so having both could be really nice. And some of these plans include vision or dental. And could we maybe then avoid adding Peanut to our school insurance altogether? That would save us thousands of dollars, and thousands more if we can’t convince the insurance company to pro-rate the cost of adding a dependent and so we have to pay for an entire year’s insurance for Peanut’s first two months. But shouldn't these programs be saved for people who really need them? Or, if having all our information (including knowledge that we have other insurance options) the state decides we fall into that group, should we accept that? These are some of the thoughts we started pondering and so didn’t have the guy immediately rip up our form. But we’re both left with an uneasy feeling about the whole thing, and seriously contemplating turning it down if we’re approved. We have some research to do.