Over the past few weeks, I’ve written here and here about paying for pregnancy. I think that my ideas are sound, but Jay’s post yesterday made me rethink some of my plan. The program I envisioned would separate maternity care from health insurance, and would pay for pregnancy using tax money combined with contributions from insurance companies and the expectant parents. The price, out-of-pocket expense, and standard of care would be the same for everyone, regardless of income. But I think that this should be limited to one or two children per woman. If a mother wants to give birth over and over, she cannot expect that the government and the insurance companies will continue to foot the bill. There is nothing wrong with having several children, as long as you have the means to support them. No one should be having children if they cannot afford to provide for them, and it would be irresponsible to sponsor a program that would lower the cost of having a baby for people who can’t afford all the other costs that come after the baby is born.
About Louise Norris
Louise Norris has been writing about health insurance and healthcare reform since 2006. In addition to the Colorado Health Insurance Insider, she also writes for healthinsurance.org, medicareresources.org, Verywell, Spark by ADP, and Boost by ADP, and Gusto. Follow on twitter and facebook.