[Emster]

Just wonder what everyone else's experience has been...before Woobie was born we had it all checked out that our insurance would cover the birth expenses from day one. But once he arrived, we were told by our attorney that his firstmom's mom requested that it be covered on her insurance, and 80/20 plan. We were fully aware that we were responsible for the 20%.

Woobie is now nearly 6 mos old and we have yet to receive a bill or statement of any kind. I have called the attorney who has nt returned my calls, to ask him if this is unusual. When we saw him at finalization, he seemed surprised not to have received anything at that time, but said sit tight. I called the agency this week and they indicated that it could take up to a year to receive any kind of billing for expenses (really??).

I know when my insurance company wants payment, they want it yesterday...

Can anyone share their experience with this and why such a delay might occur? We have money set aside for this purpose, so its not a big deal, but everything else is finished...finalization, birth cert, soc sec. It would be nice to put this to rest too.

I also don't want the family to erroneously think they are supposed to pay that.

I'll add that currently our contact consists of us sending letters and pics to firstmom and her dad, but that firstmoms mom does not wish to have contact. Its her insurance that was billed. She and "grampa" are not married.

[BrandyHagz]

Well, maybe bmom decided she wanted to pay it? Maybe this was a decision she made on her own?

Have you talked to her (is this an open adoption?)?

No, I don't think a year is normal. The Hospital normally bills within 60 days (for all of the charges) - so you should have something by now.

[DianeScraps]

I am wondering if your insurance might have paid it?

[tobeafamily]

Newborn care is almost always not filed separately - it's considered part of the cost of the delivery and postpartum care. Newborn expenses become separate should the child need continued hospitalization beyond the time of mother's discharge.

So if babe was discharged at same time as bmom, there would be no separate charge to file and/or pay.

Does this help?

Regina

[SchmennaLeigh]

Nick's bill was separate from mine. Munchkin's was not. (Two different hospitals, two different states.) His bill started after delivery was over. Two nights in the hospital, shots, care. We had ours within three months post-partum. We were kind of shocked it took that long.

Re: Munchkin's bill. They definitely did NOT wait a year and were quite mad that it took me as long as it did to pay the bill. I'd be calling the hospital if it was me.

(PS - I hate when lawyers just "give up" after the adoption is over. GAH.)

[McNally720]

Could the 20% be covered under Medicaid? We never got a bill either--J's insurance was 90/10 and the 10% for her and for Meg was taken care of by Medicaid. (Our agency tries to get everyone covered by that) Our insurance started at day 1, but never got a bill.

I wonder if your agency could contact her and ask her if she's gotten any bills....

Very peculiar!

[KariKae]

Ditto what the PP said - A lot of times baby's hospital bill is included with Mom's hospital bill. (The hospital gets a "global" fee for mom and baby).

But make sure this is the case. I work for a health insurance company and we have timely filing requirement for all claims. Typically, all claims must be filed within 90 days. But with our company, this is not the patient's responsiblity. It is the provider's responsiblity (i.e. hospital or doctor) to file the claim in a timely manner. If the provider does not file in a timely manner and the claim is denied, the provider must write-off the charges and cannot bill the member (you). If you end up being billed for the baby's charges, file an appeal with your insurance company's "member advocacy" department. They will usually take care of the problem for you.

Feel free to PM me with addition questions.

Kari

[Emster]

Firstmom was not on medicaid. Finally the atty left a message on our machine the other day stating that he'd give N's mom a call just to see if they'd gotten anything yet. Sounded from the tone of his voice that he's very sad I'm asking him to DO something...He ended the message with, "I'll get in touch with her to ask her, but that's really all I can do". (What's that about? I mean, that's all I'm asking him to do, right?)