Steven has health insurance through Anthem Blue Cross, a company that deals in direct-pay individual policies, instead of employer-subsidized group health insurance. A recent change to the plan adds a service, maternity coverage. (Yes, many direct-pay plans require you to buy insurance covering pregnancy and delivery separately, and before you get pregnant.) The problem? If he and his wife want to have a baby, he’s going to have to carry and give birth to it. The maternity coverage only applies to the policyholder, not their spouse or dependents. Pretty sweet if you’re a fertile woman with her own policy. Pretty useless if you’re not. [More]
Study: Obese Moms Birth Kids With Greater Risk Of Autism
By April 11, 2012
Science continues to scramble for reasons that children become autistic. The latest straw to which researchers are grasping is that children whose mothers were obese during pregnancy have an increased risk of autism. [More]
Nutrients That Make You More Fertile
By March 14, 2012
Superstition and junk science will recommend all sorts of foods to aid in female fertility. Although anecdotal evidence suggests that some of these will work, the best way for to increase your babymaking capabilities is probably to eat healthily. [More]
Study: No Amount Of Boozing Is Safe For Pregnant Women
By January 19, 2012
The medical consensus holds that pregnant women need to stop drinking in order to avoid harming their babies, but some conventional wisdom and myths temper that advice with the understanding that an occasional drink is OK. The latter line of thinking — reflected half-mockingly in the latest episode of Justified — is false and potentially dangerous, according to a University of California San Diego study. [More]
Keep It In Your Pants Until You Double-Check Your Insurance
By December 29, 2011
Maybe someday you’ll sit your future child on your knee and reassure him he was created with budgetary responsibility in mind. Those who check out the quirks of their health insurance policies beforehand and babymake accordingly will be able to do just that. [More]
Expecting Parents Can Share Their Excitement On Facebook, But Should They?
By August 2, 2011
Last week, Facebook introduced a new feature that lets parents list themselves as “Expected: Child” in the “Friends and Family” portion of their profiles, adding in a due date and name. The feature gives expecting parents a way to share their news without the tedium of having to notify everyone they know individually, or having to set up a separate page for the baby. [More]
Study: Secondhand Smoke Increases Risk Of Stillbirths, Birth Defects
By March 8, 2011
Those who smoke around pregnant women could be poisoning the fetuses, judging from the results of a a study that found exposure to secondhand smoke greatly increases the risk of stillbirths and ups the odds the baby will be born with defects. [More]
Restaurant Won't Let Pregnant Woman Eat From Kid's Menu
By December 16, 2010
Pregnancy has a way of limiting your meal options, and you’d expect restaurants to be aware of dietary restrictions and food sensitivity among expecting clientele and make accommodations. But Andrew’s pregnant wife ran up against a strict local restaurant that wouldn’t bend its policy that items on the kid’s menu were only for those age 10 and under. This despite the fact that all she wanted was a grilled cheese, and the only place on the menu she could find the item was in the kid’s section. [More]
Morning Sickness Remedy Found To Contain Lead And Arsenic
By February 16, 2010
Morning sickness sucks. And if you want to make it even worse, pick up some calabash chalk. The FDA is now saying the traditional morning sickness remedy — also called nzu, poto, calabar stone, mabele, argile or la craie — has been found to contain lead and arsenic. [More]
Congratulations, You're Pregnant! …With The Wrong Baby
By September 25, 2009
Imagine waiting anxiously to hear whether your latest round of in vitro fertilization has resulted in a pregnancy after years of failures. Then you receive a call from your doctor: you are indeed pregnant, but the wrong embryos were transferred. Now you’re an unwilling surrogate for another family.
Giving Birth And Covered By Health Insurance? $22,000, Please
By August 5, 2009
The individual health insurance market can be a scary place for Americans who turn to it for health coverage. If they’re accepted to a plan at all, patients often find that their coverage isn’t quite what they were promised, and limits and restrictions lead to high medical bills for covered services that aren’t really covered.
Blue Cross Blue Shield, Aetna: Sorry, Your Pregnancy Is A Pre-Existing Condition
By May 29, 2008
Katlyn is having trouble getting health insurance because she just graduated from college and is 15 weeks pregnant. She’s found herself in an expensive situation.
Blue Cross of California Hates Pregnant Women and Sick People
By March 23, 2007
The state of California is fining the company $1 million as a result. Not that that will help the hundreds of people who lost their coverage.
Wal-Mart To Begin Stocking Morning-After Pill
By March 21, 2006
Wal-Mart, finally caving to opposition, will start selling the Plan B morning-after pill at its pharmacies across the nation this week. The decision comes after the Massachusetts Pharmacy Board determined that Wal-Mart was required to sell the pill in its 44 Massachusetts pharmacies, after a similar ruling in Illinois.
