Health Insurance
I touched on Health Insurance when talking about the base fee. Health Insurance is so important when carrying a baby. There are so many issues that could go wrong and drive up the potential cost of a surrogacy arrangement. Some Intended Parents think that they will 'self pay' on the labor and delivery at the hospital and at the OB but with all of the risk factors they are taking a huge financial risk! And any woman agreeing to be a surrogate needs to know that she can easily be left holding the bag with thousands of dollars of medical bills for a pregnancy that isn't problem free. After all...it's all in her name...the hospital, the doctor, everything! She is relying on the "medical reimbursement' clause in her contract to hold water....and that it may...but when the money is paid? Time will only tell. Would it happen before her credit is totally ruined?
How to find health insurance? This is the question that may people are asking now that Insurance Companies are adding surrogacy exclusions to their policies. Even 2nd and 3rd time surrogates are finding that their policies have changed from one pregnancy to the next. Some women who have tried to check with their policy holder have been totally honest and up front and found that even if its not listed as an exclusion that they were not covered because the person they talked to on the phone took "notes" and right in their files the word "surrogacy" is typed in black and white. Even when women who want to go with the don't ask don't tell frame of mind are risking financial ruin. If you want your IP's to be involved with the OB appointments then its going to be pretty hard to explain to the OB and the hospital staff why this other couple are so involved and interested in YOUR pregnancy. There are several 'surrogacy friendly' policies out there but they do cost quite a bit. I will touch on those options later.
Please note that Health Insurance is not meant to cover IVF, medications involved with IVF or any infertility testing in a surrogacy situation. These costs are out of pocket expenses that the Intended Parents have to be responsible for and NOT their surrogate or her Health Insurance.
Sharon
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