When The Shoe Is On The Other Foot

Many uninsured pregnant women have had to tender large up-front fees before receiving prenatal care and other maternity-related services. Why is it then that insurance companies do not have to do the same? According to this Volunteer News article (http://www.volunteertv.com/home/headlines/34827894.html), clinics that deliver babies are struggling due to late payments by insurance companies. In the article, a birthing center representative states that payments from one insurer are delayed as much as two years. Without payment, the center is forced to consider scaling back or shutting down altogether; a shame considering many of its patients are low-income women.

If you're late paying your insurance premium, your coverage is dropped. If you're unable to afford health care, you don't get medical treatment. If an insurance company is late paying a maternity clinic, they stay in business.

If it is the insurance companies' payments clinics have to worry about, rather than payments from uninsured pregnant women, why is it that the women are punished with demanding up-front fees? Shouldn't this burden be placed on the insurance companies rather than those who have a desire to pay and only seek fair terms?

Insurance companies would balk at paying up-front, but it's not fair to force uninsured women to wear a shoe that simply doesn't fit. The referenced article states that low-income women are not the problem when it comes to late payments; it's time the rest of the health care industry examine where their financial woes are truly rooted as well.

I am PRO MOM!!!
Aaron Bouren
Advocate Aaron