The state of Utah has a public health insurance program called “Baby Your Baby”. It is designed to help uninsured pregnant women to be able to afford outpatient and pregnancy related medical care. Baby Your Baby is considered to be a form of prenatal Medicaid.
The cost of prenatal care, giving birth in a hospital, and post-natal care can be more expensive than a family, or an individual pregnant woman, can afford. The financial aspects of pregnancy can quickly become too expensive for an uninsured pregnant woman to pay for.
The state of Utah has an extensive Medicaid program that is split into several interconnected parts. Each part is designed to help a particular uninsured population. There is a program called Baby Your Baby that can help eligible pregnant women to receive prenatal care prior to establishing eligibility for Medicaid.
The basic idea is that an uninsured pregnant women who lives in Utah can receive assistance from Baby Your Baby. After the baby is born, the mother can apply for Medicaid assistance to cover the baby’s medical needs, (based upon the mother’s income).
Women who qualify for Baby Your Baby will be given a Baby Your Baby Presumptive Eligibility card the same day that the woman applies for the program. The card will cover outpatient and pregnancy related services while the woman’s Medicaid application is being processed. This pink card is a temporary card. The Medicaid card will cover the rest of the medical bills that connect to the pregnancy, including hospital and delivery charges.
To be eligible for Baby Your Baby, a woman must be a citizen of the United States, (or must have had a green card for five years). The woman must also live in Utah. Before a woman can be considered eligible for this program, she must have her pregnancy confirmed with a test by a doctor or clinic. It is suggested that women who are low-income seek a county health department for low-cost pregnancy testing.
There are income guidelines that must be met for a woman to qualify for Baby Your Baby. A representative will look at a woman’s gross monthly income (before taxes) for the current month. The number of people in the woman’s family, including the unborn baby, will be considered.
In other words, Baby Your Baby is a public, or government run, program. It is a temporary step that will help a pregnant woman to become covered by Medicaid. Baby Your Baby covers the woman’s medical bills in the gap between when she signs up for this program and when she is approved for Medicaid.
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