Health Insurance - Martinez,CA

Kaiser also has a program called "KP Cares for Kids" which provides subsidized coverage for kids in low-income families. Ask your local Kaiser medical center social workers or financial/billing people about it - they should be able to refer you to the right people. Good luck!!

Find out about your husband's insurance, and check again on your insurance. A higher deductible will give a lower rate. Good luck..

Maybe you could look into the healthy families program. If you make under certain amounts then you only have to pay up a $28 premium each month. You can choose a Kaiser plan through the Healthy Families program and it won't cost you a lot! The link is www.healthyfamilies.ca.gov.

I second the Healthy Families idea. You might even be eligible for Medi-Cal. Depending upon how much you and your husband make, you would be surprised. My girls have been on Medi-Cal since they were babies and I have been pleasantly surprised at the level of care they get. I grew up on Kaiser and I can honestly say I've seen much better care from MediCal doctors than from Kaiser doctors. I absolutely LOVE my girls' doctor!!!

If you Google Healthy Families they have a website that has a chart which tells you whether you would be eligible for MediCal, Healthy Families or neither. MediCal is free and Healthy Families is a nominal fee (I've heard around $15.)

Try calling Bay Area Benefits. ###-###-####. They were able to reduce my monthly premium from $467 to $250. Good luck!

You've gotten some great advice and I thought of two other places for you to check. First 5, which supports children up to five years old (not an insurance, but I'm sure they have recommendations), and WIC (Women, Infants and Children). Both those agencies should have lots of ideas for raising your child beyond just health insurance. Also, Head Start is a third program that just occurred to me, again, not an insurance, but they will have referral programs.
Good luck.

Hi C.

I believe there is a program called Choices for Children that will help with medical for your child....$406 is a lot for Kaiser when adding a child, are you self insured or through a company.That seems VERY HIGH.

However Choices for Children is a free program and I believe it includes Kaiser.

Hope that helps
K.

BTW: I had my last son at Kaiser in Vallejo and it was awesome!! They are very attentive and I had my own HUGE room!

Kaiser has a plan called the child health plan and it is great. It is based on income and a few other guidelines, but it sounds like you might qualify. Anyway if you make between XX & XX amount you pay $8.00 a month and if you make between XX up to 100,000 you pay $16.00 a month.

Look on the Kaiser website for this

i had the same situation and I am also with Kaiser. it ended up being cheaper to put my daughter on an individual plan (her's costs $184/month). the HR person at my work put me in touch with our insurance broker and he was able to set up the plan for me. it's still expensive but MUCH cheaper than adding her on my work plan. All well visits are 0 co-pay too which is great.

C., your husband should be able to add her, because having a child is considered a life changing event and you can add up to 30 days after you give birth. If his insurance is cheaper I would suggest doing that.

Good luck

Health insurance is a nightmare! I was in the same position when my daughter was small, but I was a single mom who received no child support! In fact, her father was on county assistance and he had Medi-Cal, but she wasn't eligible because of my income (even though it wasn't much)! Fortunately, things have changed over these past twenty years. I would suggest that you contact your social services department and apply for Medi-Cal for your daughter. You may have a share of cost, but it probably won't be as much as $400 per month. Also, check out plans with Blue Shield, they seem to have some plans that don't cost too much. Good luck! I know how scarey it can be to have an uninsured child - my daughter was NEVER covered by insurance - ouch!!!!

Since you work- if you make the income bracket check Healthy Families, which is a very low share of cost.It is the state health insurance but is only geared to minors.
Hope that helps.

C.,
I also agree with the healthy families idea, however you can also talk to the social workers at Kaiser, they have an idea of other programs that might be available to you and your child.

A.

Hi C.,
You've received some great advice. If all else fails, here's the contact info for our insurance agent, Bill Hannant. He makes no money from you but does from the insurance companies, so there's no pressure and he's free. He's very nice and helped us a lot when our daughter was born in May and with insurance for our teenager. I highly recommend him!
Good Luck!

Bill Hannant, RHU, LTCP
###-###-####
###-###-####
____@____.com

M. M