[jillned]

Our DD is 6 months old and we have had her for that long as well. We will be finalizing in a couple weeks. We got a call yesterday from the agency stating that the hospital could not get public aid to pay for DD's hospital/birth expenses. Apparently they needed some info from ** and are unable to locate her at this time. We live in Illinois and the law states that an adopted child cannot be treated any differently than a bio child as far as insurance goes. However, when I spoke to our insurance company they said they cover from date of placement not date of birth. I faxed them a letter from our atty stating tha dob is same as dop. Has anyone had any experience with this? Has anyone had their insurance company cover their (adopted) child's birth/hospital expenses?

[timni]

As far as I understand it. They should cover it. We had to fight a little with medical expenses as well. Eventually they gave in. Sorry I am not much help. Let me know how it goes.

[denisenw5]

I work for an agency in Ohio and we require our adopting families to have a letter from the insurance company stating coverage. I would say that 95% cover from the date of placement, not the day of birth. In Ohio, parents have a minimum wait time of seventy-two hours before they can place their child, so in our state placement day and day of birth are not the same. What state are you in?

[icunurse]

I live in IL, too, and I thought they were only required to cover from day of placement (which in IL is at least 72 hours). I could be wrong, though, and it is worth calling your insurance company, the hospital, anyone to see if it can somehow be negotiated.

[jillned]

I understood it also to be from date of placement. I don;t understand why public aid is not covering it. She was her own patient and a minor while in the hospital for 3 days. If we are required to have to pay out of pocket for some reason that's another $8000.00 that we have totally not budgeted for this adoption. To be honest, I have never heard of adoptive parents speaking of having to pay out of pocket for birth expenses.

[my_igit]

Hi- we are in IL as well- when our daughter was born- her portion of the hospital stay was covered by our insurance- but her birthmothers labor and delivery was not- so we paid that portion (the LARGE portion).

[ubooashell]

our insurance is bc/bs they covered everything they also had wording like time of custody and placement. our adoption was in KS we live in FL
Michelle

[Fran27]

From what my agency told us, if the birthmom isn't insured, it's up to us to pay for everything - and some insurances will actually cover from the birth of the child, BUT most of them will only cover from the time the baby was placed. If she was insured though (and most should be able to have medicaid), her insurance should pay for it...

In your case, I really hope they get a hold of your birthmom... but your agency should really have made sure everything was covered BEFORE the placement. Really big mistake on their part, IMO.

[my someone]

We reside in IL and faced this issue just after we started our 2nd adoption process.

Our agency asked us to contact our insurance company to see if they covered at birth or at placement for the prospective adoptive child. At first they replied "at placement", but the human resources department at my husband's company was able to present them with some state laws that proved otherwise. The insurance company, upon review, forwarded an email to the HR deptartment that stated:

Yes, if there is a contract with the birth mother before the child's birth, the child is eligible for coverage on the date of birth. The delivery of course is not covered.

The "contract" they spoke of doesn't have to be in writing. Good faith negotiations are sufficient to prove "a contract". Our lawyer confirmed this.

Our agency told us they were requiring proof of coverage because, due to rising medical costs, they (the agency) were no longer able to bridge the possible medical costs for the newborn between the time he/she was born and when they were placed with the adoptive family. Sometimes this was just the 3 day waiting period, but in many cases the baby was going into foster care for some weeks until the legalities were settled. Couples that couldn't get their insurance companies to prove at-birth coverage had to evaluate whether they were willing to take on these costs until placement, because they wouldn't be able to continue with the agency if they couldn't.

Luckily for us there were no medical issues, our birth mom was covered by her family's insurance, and we were placed on the third day.

I think all couples, whether in IL or not, should consult with their agencies early in the process to find out where they stand on this issue. I admit, if the agency hadn't asked us to do some legwork, it would have never occurred to me to examine this potentially complicated problem.

Good luck. Let me know if you need more info.....

[Nevada Jen]

By federal law insurance companies are required to cover from the date of placement. The date of placement can be before the date of relinquishment in most states. It is standard for the aparents or their insurance to pay for baby's expenses from the date of birth or match (which ever is later) and not uncommon to pay from the date of birth no matter what.

If there is a long period between birth and placement then it would be standard for the baby to go on the bmom's insurance or on medicade or for you to have it clearly explained in writing and you agree in writing to pay past expenses.

If you took placement of the baby on the day of the baby's birth then your insurance needs to cover it. End of story.

We had to pay for the 3 days DS was in the hospital before we took placement and the cost was $1100 before it was discounted for cash payment down to $400. I think that's why you never hear people talk about the expense. Its usually negligible in the grand scheme of things.

Jen

[jillned]

Thanks for all the info. I do think this need to explained much better by adoption agencies. Niether of our agencies ever told us to contact our insurance before adopting.
I did just get a call from the insurance company and they said they WILL cover the baby's expenses but not birthmom's. That's all we needed.

[schroem]

our insurance covered our son's portion of the hospital stay. ($1,800.00) Keep on your insurance company. We live in NY but the birth was in IL.

[skilack]

We were also told the day the baby is born coverage starts. Now I'm beginning to question that. I think I will call my insurance company and ask. I'm glad someone pointed that out. I would have went into an agreement thinking the baby's stay would be covered.