How Do I Get “Baby Bargains for Clothes, Furniture, Toys and More?

Just a quick note to start off today’s post. We had our son last Monday the 6th. He weighed 7 lb 15 oz and was 20 inches long. We are home and off to a good start. With hospital bills on my mind I thought a follow up post to last week would be the insurance aspect of things. We are fortunate to have very good maternity coverage included in my wife’s plan from work. That is not the case for everyone. I’ve read that as many as 13% of pregnant women have no insurance. With the looming healthcare and economic crisis I would guess that number is slightly larger today.

If you cannot afford maternity coverage, your maternity coverage isn’t very good, or are already pregnant and therefore cannot add maternity coverage, here are my top 3 suggestions for ways to find baby bargains for maternity and delivery.

1. Talk to the hospital financial office. Many hospitals offer payment plans or even sliding scales based on your income.  Most people don’t even know they are available so they are not often utilized.

2. Consider other maternity plans that are not true insurance. Because they are discount plans instead of insurance, pre-existing conditions do not matter so you can apply even when pregnant. The top plan specializing in maternity coverage is Maternity Advantage (http://www.maternityadvantage.com). Another source that offers broader coverages, but slightly smaller discounts for pregnancy can be found http://www.ameriplan.com. Another interesting concept is one in which the total bill for all members is equally divided so you help pay when others need it most and they help when you need it. The idea is that you end up paying far less than a traditional insurance plan.  This can be found here http://www.medi-share.org.

3. Finally, if you are having a healthy, normal pregnancy consider using a birthing center instead of a hospital. The average cost of prenatal care and delivery via a birthing center is about half that of a hospital. Birthing centers offer similar payment plans and sliding scales that hospitals offer. Some are even attached to the local hospital so that in the unlikely event of an emergency, mother can be quickly moved to the hospital. Clearly, this isn’t for everyone. Many people chose this option to have a more natural birth as opposed to the financial benefits. To read more about this and search for a birthing center in your area go here
http://americanpregnancy.org/labornbirth/birthingcenter.html

Baby bargains can be found in many areas…even insurance.

If you want to be notified when our Guide to the Best Baby Bargains is available please send an email to josh@mommydaddysavers.com

Tags: Baby Bargains, insurance, maternity coverage
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As I stated last week, it is my goal to post every Monday. However, today, Oct 6th I am currently at the hospital either in the middle of the birth of my baby boy or looking at Gabriel Ethan for the first time.  I wrote this posting in advance and to publish today. I think the topic is fitting: hospital bills for the birth of your baby. A few days from now we will be receiving a bill in the mail for the balance due AFTER insurance.  To be quite honest, this was one of the biggest financial surprises after our first son was born. During the months leading up to his birth, we met with the OB and were shown the estimated cost of prenatal care and delivery for both vaginal and c-section. They looked at my wife’s insurance deductible left for the year, the 20% coinsurance we were responsible for after the deductible was met and came up with a fairly substantial number. This was divided into monthly payments and was to be paid in full prior to delivery. In all of our excitement, not fully understanding every paper we signed, we thought that once that was paid we were free and clear. We would go have our baby and come home without any of that financial mess hanging over our heads. Much to our surprise, that was only for the OB side of the care.

Several days after the birth of our first son we received a bill, a rather large bill, for our portion of the hospital charges, another bill from the anesthesiologist, and another from the pediatrician that visits the hospital to examine the baby every day until discharge.  I guess we thought this was included in everything we had prepaid.  We got this large bill with a due date within 30 days, having already used a large portion of our income to prepay the OB we weren’t left with much. Financial panic, sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. I’m the macho guy, the provider, and somehow I missed this and we didn’t have the money to pay it. Now what?

My first step was to pick up the phone and get an itemized bill so I could see where in the world this large number came from.  We also requested information on some type of a payment plan or financial aid from the hospital. When the itemized bill came in I was amazed at the charges…delivery room fees, 1 hour recovery fee, overnight room fee, various tubing, $8.80 for ibuprofen, $1.60 for each vitamin, and on and on. The most interesting thing were the charges for things I knew we had NEVER received. We were able to call and get some of these charges removed. There were probably more, but I just didn’t know what everything was. According to maternityadvantage.com more than 90% of hospital bills have errors.

This time, we are better prepared in the coming days to receive another bill. We also know to get an itemized copy to find the errors. So all you mommy and daddy savers out there looking for baby bargains, don’t overlook the hospital bill. Find the mistakes and get them removed.

If you want to be notified when our Guide to the Best Baby Bargains is available please send an email to josh@mommydaddysavers.com

Tags: Baby Bargains, hospital bills
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I came across a great article today for you moms and dads to-be. If you want to read the whole thing go to Kiplinger.com and search for “Nine Financial Moves for New Moms (and Dads)” by Erin Burt.  The info is a little dated since she wrote that in May 2005, but you can still get some good concepts. Her top 9 financial moves to do BEFORE you have a baby are as follows:

1. Pay off high-interest debt
2. Create a shopping strategy
3. Know the leave policy on your job
4. Tell your boss
5. Save now to make up for any income shortfalls
6. Make room for baby in your everyday budget
7. Start shopping for life insurance
8. Check your health coverage
9. Learn about college savings plans

I wanted to comment on #1, 5, and 6. Once the initial excitement has overflowed and the financial realities begin to settle in comes a period of… how in the world are we going to be able to afford a new baby? This is usually followed by hectic online searches for all the best baby bargains out there. Maybe that is how you found this blog. We’ll certainly get to that. However, it is wise to have a good foundation in place. That all begins with a budget. The #1 source I recommend above all others is Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace. If you can afford the course or find a local class it is worth the investment. If that’s a bit pricey get one of his books and implement his baby steps. Create a budget (yeah, it’s about as fun as it sounds). Start working on your debt snowball payment plan. Get your financial house in order. I’ll be including an entire chapter on putting a budget and debt payment plan in place in my ebook set to come out soon.

Once this is in place you do not, by any means, want to blow all the progress you’ve made by going crazy on new baby gear. The secret to keeping your financial plan going is knowing the best baby bargains. That is where I can help. I’ll be sharing more in the coming weeks. I look forward to it.

If you want to be notified when our Guide to the Best Baby Bargains is available please send an email to josh@mommydaddysavers.com

Tags: Baby Bargains, budget, getting ready
Posted in Birth | | 2 Comments »