After 1 and a half years, I finally have time to sit down and write about the scam of maternity savings that I have experienced. The objective is not to complain about health care costs, but to reveal the Maternity Card deception.From the company, Affordable Health Care Options, comes the Maternity Card (maternitycard.com). Guaranteeing you savings, the Maternity Card tells members they can plan to save around 40-60% off their medical bills. All that you need to do is pay $600.00 for the membership. They guarantee a 10% savings, but "Seth" assured me I would save 40-60%.
I knew, going into this, that I needed to do my research. I found nothing negative about this company.
I knew that this was not an insurance. I did not know, however, that the claims of savings that I read about on the Maternity Card website, were not to be mine.
Here are the details of what it costs to have a baby and what I "saved"(yeah right!):
Hospital Charge for Mom: $9,337.00
Hospital Charge for Jade: $1,229.00
Doctor Charge for catching baby and pre-natal appointments: $2,600.00
total: $13,166.00
NOTE: My doctor deserved to paid. He was worth every cent. Why? Because he has spent many years, working hard, to do what he does. He provides a valuable service. In another post, maybe I will get into the insanity of malpractice insurance and the effect it has on the cost of health care.
What affordable Health Care Options saved me:
Cost of membership with Maternity Card: -$600.00
What they "saved" me by
"working on my behalf" : +$1,100.00
Total Savings: :$500.00
So, what did I pay, in all? $12,666.00
Now, if I would have pre-paid the hospital, I would have paid about 3,500.00-4k , instead of the 13k that I was charged. However, since Maternity Card claimed they would save me so much, I didn't take the "chance" of pre-paying the hospital since I thought I would be paying more that way. Now I know.
Next time, I am having my baby at home.
Does anyone reading have any similar experience or other options for families out there without maternity insurance?
