Okay, more on the insurance thing. We had pretty much decided that there WERE no options, ConnectiCare does have great coverage. But I decided to take another look at the site because something was bothering me.

Turns out the Blue Cross Blue Sheild plan Den’s brother is on is listed under Federal plans, not Massachusetts plans… which is why I didn’t see it earlier. It’s open to anyone (in the federal government), not restricted by area. (ConnectiCare is only open to those living in western Mass.) So I took a look at it.

First off, premiums are lower than what Den’s been paying – even the new, increased 2008 rates for BCBS is lower than what he’s paying right now for CC. Definitely a plus.

Next of course I look at the infertility coverage. And that, my friends is where BCBS bottoms out. They cover diagnosis. No ART whatsoever, not even IUI. And that sucks balls.

However, I am in the very happy situation of already being pregnant via ART. So I flip to the maternity coverage section. CC has awesome maternity coverage: no copays at all, not even for the hospital visit. And BCBS? Same deal. No copays for prenatal care, ultrasounds, labor or recovery.

I check the Preventative Care for children. Remember with CC it was vague wording, but seemed to indicate that it covered all well-child visits and immunizations recommended by the AAP, with a $15 copay each visit – which is pretty good. BCBS? Covers all well-child visits, all immunizations… and NO copay at all.

Den’s chiropractic visits (he goes once a month)? $15 copay for preferred providers vs. the $30 per visit he now pays.

Any therapy I wish to take with a psychiatrist or psychologist? $15 copay vs. $30 on our current plan. (And both plans do require that you get an “approved treatment plan”.) Thankfully my issues aren’t so bad that I would require anything more than some talk therapy. I function just fine without it, but I think it would be beneficial and possibly – just maybe – help me someday wean off my meds. (Maybe. After 5 years I’m not all that encouraged in that area.)

There is a overall calendar year deductable of $600 per year for some services – however all four of the things above have no deductable. (From what I can see reading the plan benefits, the deductable comes into play for bigger things like hospital stays, inpatient visits, medical equipment, etc.)

So basically, BCBS will cost us less money, for the same benefits. Yeah, it really really sucks that they don’t cover infertility. We could not/would not have switched to BCBS before getting pregnant, obviously. But you know what? We have managed to use all of our infertility coverage from ConnectiCare. Oh wait… I think we might have had an IUI left to use (snort). We used up all our medication limit, and both IVF cycles covered. So even if we stayed with CC we’d still have no more infertility coverage.

BCBS was kind of like my back-up plan… I kept thinking, hoping, that it would cover more IVF cycles for us. Den’s now really hoping we get pregnant by accident the second time around. (Me… I would mind an “accident” – or rather “miracle” – but I’d kind of prefer it didn’t happen within the first 6 months of our baby’s life. That would freak me out a little bit. Okay a lot.) I guess we’ll handle that situation when we get there… there’s always the chance of spending a lot of money to get me my own insurance coverage under Massachusetts which has a totally nifty-awesome infertility mandate. Would cost us a lot for insurance… but not nearly as much as a full IVF cycle (or two or more…).

Enough worrying, that’s far in the future, and for right now we’re feeling pretty pleased. I just really hope all our healthcare providers are in the preferred network. (Checking… my old OB/Midwife practice is in-network, our GP doctor is in-network, and – WHEW! – the hospital and new Midwives are too!)