Homebirth Reimbursement, with Nicolle Kasch

Nicolle Kasch shares her personal story of persistence and success, along with specifics on how to navigate what can be a truly cumbersome process. Although filled with trial and error, her 8 months of determination resulted in full reimbursement. Check it out!

What we talked about:

• Combing to your current plan for specifics and not-so specifics
• Not all insurance companies are created equal
• Don’t be discouraged by negative language
• On the hunt for the magical exemption for an out-of-network provider
• Understanding the different midwifery designations
• Are midwives licensed for homebirth in your state?
• Tips for phone calls with your insurance company
• Jumping through hoops, denial letters, and going up the ladder
• For every “no”, ask again
• Filing a formal appeal
• Following up on the appeal
• Super bill vs. detailed bill
• What others have done
• Key takeaways
• How long did it take?

Additional fabulous resources and articles:

• Study on “Forces promoting health insurance coverage of homebirth: a case study in Washington State”
• Birth Rights, article on midwifery licensing in the US
• CPMs Legal Status by State,
• GentleBirth.org’s step-by-step on How To Get Insurance Reimbursement for Homebirth

Other reimbursement stories:

• 100% Coverage: My Struggle Having a Homebirth Paid for by the Insurance Company
• Negotiating for Health Insurance Coverage
• Mama Musings: How I Secured Health Insurance for Our Home Birth
• Homebirth Insurance Reimbursement Tips & Homebirth in the news
• How We Got Insurance Reimbursement for our Out Of Network Homebirth

Courtesy of Nicolle Kasch

About Nicolle Kasch

Nicolle is a certified labor doula and HypnoBirthing practitioner based in Orange County, CA. After the birth of her first son in 2013 she was bitten by the “birth bug” because her birthing experience was so joyful and empowering. 6 months later, she trained to become a HypnoBirthing practitioner, since that was the method that made all the difference for her, with long term plans to attend births as a doula. As time went on, and she learned more about the natural birthing process and the current state of maternity care (as well as reflecting on her unmedicated hospital birth experience), she knew that she would not want to birth another child in the hospital, so as she and her husband Matt looked forward to conceiving their second child she had already decided on hiring a licensed midwife and planning to birth at home. Her “boring” home birth reaffirmed everything she believed in her heart about how she could experience true undisturbed labor; getting reimbursed 100% from her insurance company was some unexpected but amazing icing on the cake!

Connect with Nicolle at  www.hypnobirthingoc.com, or follow the conversation on Facebook, or Instagram

Title music: “Vibe Ace” by Kevin MacLeod, from the Free Music Archive / CC BY (edited for length).

Sponsorship music: “Air Hockey Saloon” by Chris Zabriskie, from the Free Music Archive / CC BY (edited for length).