Martha Bayne, a pro-choice feminist, describes how she became unexpectedly pregnant in her 40s.
“Congratulations!” [the doctor] said. “This is exciting. There’s no reason this can’t be a normal, healthy pregnancy.” A pause. “You must be a bit overwhelmed.”
I was – and not just by the cells dividing south of my navel. Did you know that, currently, only 12% of individual health insurance policies offer coverage for basic maternity care? That such coverage is mandated by only 9 states? I didn’t, until suddenly I did.
She goes on to describe her problem with insurance:
Carriers in states without a mandate may offer coverage for a rider, a package of benefits that reaches above and beyond the basics. But in addition to being expensive, and often sorely limited in scope, these riders, it turns out, are not something you can opt into once you become, in fact, pregnant. Because, of course, at that point your pregnancy is a pre-existing condition.
To say I was distressed would be a civilized gloss. I burned with the white-hot fire of a hundred suns after gleaning this information from the Internet. Thankfully, a phone call to my own carrier, Aetna, informed me that it was a moot point. Because, not only does Aetna not offer maternity coverage as part of my carefully acquired package, it also does not offer any maternity coverage at all, even as a rider, on an individual benefits package.
Babies, it turns out, are not cost-effective for the insurance industry. Because, guess what? When women purchase maternity coverage, it’s pretty good that they plan to use it.
The base cost of 9 months of prenatal and 3 months of postpartum medical care for routine pregnancy and delivery is widely estimated at $10,000… Even though Aetna wasn’t about to cover me, I make too much money to qualify for Medicaid.
I stood in front of the (very kind) receptionist, sweaty and humiliated. “I’m sorry,” she said.
“Thanks,” I said. “It’s my own fault. I should’ve checked.”
She had the abortion, and at the end of the essay writes:
“For the record: if I’d waited another 2 years to get accidentally pregnant, such coverage would be mandated as part of an essential benefits package by the Affordable Care Act.
Did you know that if you are pregnant and French, you get 16 weeks of mandatory paid maternity leave plus an optional 3 years of unpaid leave, no strings attached, plus low-cost daycare, plus financial support for single parents? They even send a nanny to your house once a week to help you clean up.”
Martha Bayne “Knocked over: On Biology, Magical Thinking, and Choice” in Kim Wyatt, Sari Botton Get Out Of My Crotch: 21 Writers Respond to America’s War on Women’s Rights and Reproductive Health (South Lake Tahoe, California: Cherry Bomb Books, 2012) Kindle edition
Democrats for Life supported The Affordable Healthcare Act in part because of the pregnancy benefits. There are, of course, other problems with the Act – such as the fact that in some states it pays for abortions. But this article highlights the necessity of putting programs in place to support pregnant women so they aren’t driven to abortion by lack of money or the inability to get insurance
Share on Facebook
