--- title: "How Can You Be Sure You're Getting An Insurance Policy That Covers Maternity Care?" date: 2013-09-24T19:19:32-04:00 author: OBOS Admin canonical_url: "https://ourbodiesourselves.org/blog/how-can-you-be-sure-youre-getting-an-insurance-policy-that-covers-maternity-care" section: Blog (Archive) --- [Donate](https://ourbodiesourselves.org/donate) [From the Archives of Our Bodies, Our Blog](/blog)# How Can You Be Sure You're Getting An Insurance Policy That Covers Maternity Care? By Michelle Andrews • September 24, 2013 Please note: This entry -- originally posted at [Our Bodies, Our Blog](https://ourbodiesourselves.org/blog) -- has not been updated since the publication date listed above. *Michelle Andrews of [Kaiser Health News](http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/ "Kaiser Health News") answers an important question about maternity care coverage. Read more from the KHN series [Insuring Your Health](http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Topics/Insuring-Your-Health.aspx "Kaiser Health News Insuring Your Health series").* **Q. My wife and I are newlyweds. We are looking into family insurance plans and are curious about maternity coverage, rates and any limitations. I'm seeing a lot of companies don't cover maternity benefits or impose six-month restrictions. It seems really complicated and not helpful, to say the least. Any information you can provide will help.** A. This is one of the problems that the health law was designed to address. The Pregnancy Discrimination Act [requires companies](http://www.eeoc.gov/facts/fs-preg.html "Facts About Pregnancy Discrimination") with 15 or more workers that offer health insurance to provide maternity coverage for workers and their spouses. But the law doesn't apply to plans sold on the individual market. Only 12 percent of those individual plans provide maternity coverage, according to [an analysis](http://www.nwlc.org/resource/report-turning-fairness-insurance-discrimination-against-women-today-and-affordable-care-ac "REPORT: Turning to Fairness: Insurance Discrimination Against Women Today and the Affordable Care Act") published last year by the [National Women's Law Center](http://www.nwlc.org/ "National Women's Law Center"). Plans that do cover maternity services may have a separate deductible of up to $10,000 and impose a waiting period of up to a year before members can use the services, the study found. All that will change next year. Starting in January, the Affordable Care Act requires all new individual and small group health plans to cover 10 "essential health benefits," and [maternity and newborn care is one of them](http://www.healthcarereform.ny.gov/timeline/2012-08-02_exchange_stakeholder/docs/marya_torrez_national_partnership_for_women_and_families.pdf "Guidelines for States on Maternity Care In the Essential Health Benefits Package"). Insurers can't impose waiting periods for maternity coverage nor charge women higher rates than men, as typically occurs now. If you buy a plan on the individual market now, chances are you'll pay extra for maternity coverage, if you can find it at all. But even if you buy a plan now, there’s nothing to stop you from shopping for a plan that meets the new maternity coverage requirements when your state's health insurance marketplace launches in October. Your new coverage could begin in January, says Carrie McLean, director of customer care at online vendor [eHealthInsurance.com](http://www.ehealthinsurance.com/ "eHealthInsurance"). If you and your wife do become pregnant before year's end, you may benefit from another provision of the Affordable Care Act. Under current law, insurers on the individual market typically consider pregnancy to be a pre-existing medical condition and refuse to issue policies to people who are pregnant. Starting in January, "Nobody can ask them if they’re pregnant and then deny them coverage," says Judy Waxman, NWLC’s vice president for health and reproductive rights. *![](https://assets.ourbodiesourselves.org/images/blog-archive/kaiser-health-news-logo.png "kaiser health news logo")[Kaiser Health News](http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/ "Kaiser Health News") is an editorially independent program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan health policy research and communication organization not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.* --- #### 0 Response Our Bodies Ourselves is no longer able to accept comments. ![](/assets/img/monogram.webp)Topics - [Healthcare System](https://ourbodiesourselves.org/blog/topic/healthcare-system) - [Pregnancy & Childbirth](https://ourbodiesourselves.org/blog/topic/pregnancy-childbirth) - [Public Policy](https://ourbodiesourselves.org/blog/topic/public-policy) ![](/assets/img/monogram.webp)### *Why You Can* **Trust Us** - We rigorously evaluate all content - We embrace a reproductive justice framework - We don’t accept ads or sell products - We reject funding from the pharmaceutical industry - We counter misinformation and disinformation - We address the social, political, and economic factors that affect health and sexuality [read more](https://ourbodiesourselves.org/why-you-can-trust-us) Share [](javascript:void();)[](javascript:void();)[](javascript:void();)[](javascript:void();)