Some Financial Things to Know Before Getting Pregnant

Pregnancy – It’s a wonderful word but there are some things I wish I knew before I was pregnant.  I can remember when I found out I was pregnant, I started searching the internet for helpful tips on what to do and what not to do.  I don’t recall seeing these things:

1.  Short Term Disability (STD), needs to be put in place before you start trying to get pregnant.  Once you are pregnant (and you will not know about it until you are at least 4 to 7 weeks) you are not covered under a STD policy for pregnancy.  The goal is to get paid while you are on maternity leave so there isn’t a big financial burden on you while you are out of work.  I had signed up for STD and the day it was suppose to start, I found out I was pregnant.  I asked the company if I had complications if they would cover that and their response was if it has anything to do with the pregnancy it will NOT be covered.  So I had to cancel my policy because that was the reason I signed up for it.

2.  Health Insurance –  Oh my!  This is a big one for me.  I am so thankful that I had health insurance.  I was in total shock when I received my hospital bill  for my child.  So please get coverage before you are pregnant.  Once again, Health Insurance will not cover you if you are pregnant before the policy starts.

3.  Savings – My suggestion would be to start saving as soon as you are thinking about becoming pregnant.  What are you saving for?  Well lets look….you will need to find out how much max out of pocket is through your health insurance and don’t forget you will be adding a child to your policy so your rate and max out of pocket will go up.  So start there.  Next, figure up how much your bills are monthly.  Save up at least two months.  If you have the Short Term Disability policy that’s even a bigger help!  I don’t know if all hospitals will but I know the hospital I went to set me up on a payment plan but other bills are not that friendly.

Those are the top three suggestions I have about finances for pregnancy!  Hope this helps some of ya’ll out!