It CAN Happen To You

Most people would say they could live comfortably on a $150,000 annual household income. Nice house, nice cars, nice vacations, nice stuff. But even that income isn't enough to stave off the plague of economic downturn, evident in this WBUR article (http://www.wbur.org/news/2008/82079_20081218.asp). The couple in the article made 150K but, after two pregnancies and elevated mortgage payments, they fell behind – and are even unable to sell their house because it has lost so much market value.

In the article, writer Anthony Brooks explains that when this young couple purchased their home, every indication said that home values would increase and that 150K would certainly be enough to get by on. They found out too late, as many others have, that anything can happen. Even well-to-do families can be plunged into a financial nightmare that threatens their home, their jobs and their insurance coverage; and more and more we're seeing stories about pregnant women whose insurance was dropped because their employers shut the doors for the last time. Without employment during a housing crisis, these women are unable to afford maternity care – and cannot gain access to medical insurance because they have a “pre-existing condition”: they're pregnant.

Many sources cite HIPAA laws that state pregnancy can't be construed as a pre-existing condition, but in fact such doctrines only apply when one also has pre-existing insurance. I.E., if a pregnant woman leaves one job where she had insurance to work at another company with insurance, she is still covered – once she gets past the obligatory waiting period, of course.

Read the article and see how easy it is for a 150K household to falter. Consider this: how secure is your job? Could your mortgage increase? Or have you lost your job or gotten behind on bills already, as many Americans have?

What will you do if you're pregnant when it all comes crashing down?

Educate yourself. Learn your options and how to take advantage of the resources available to you. Consult with Maternity Health (www.maternityhealth.org), the American Pregnancy Association (www.americanpregnancy.org) and Maternity Advantage (www.maternityadvantage.com) to see what steps you need to take to receive the best and most affordable care for yourself and your baby.

You can't predict the future. It CAN happen to you. Be prepared.

I am PRO MOM!!!
Aaron Bouren
Advocate Aaron