Most people think a million dollars is a lot of money, but when it comes to a micro preemie or very preterm baby, your $1,000,000 lifetime insurance cap could disappear in the blink of an eye. Many families with babies in the NICU feel secure in the fact that they have health insurance from their employer, and don’t give their coverage a second thought until their situation suddenly changes.

Insurance issues can even create problems for healthy preemies and their families. Here are a few tips and facts about health insurance every parent should keep in mind if they have a baby in the NICU:

1. You have 30 days to add a new baby to your existing plan. While 30 days seems like plenty of time, life in the NICU can quickly become overwhelming. So, at your first opportunity, call up and add your baby to either mom or dad’s health insurance plan. Waiting too long can cause problems with pre-existing conditions and lapses in coverage.
2. Do your homework about policy options. If you have the option of choosing between more than one plan, you might want to consider adding your preemie to the plan that gives you the easiest access to specialist care, and better coverage for things like physical and occupational therapy. Although there are preemies who leave the NICU and never look back, it is common for babies that have been in the NICU to need access to specialist care for follow ups, and to therapy or other forms of early intervention to minimize the impact of their early arrival on their development. If you’re looking for private insurance, compare online insurance quotes based on out-of-pocket maximums and total policy limits, among other factors.
3. Double Coverage has its benefits. Under normal circumstances, having more than one health insurance policy can cause more paperwork trouble than it’s worth. But, even if you have pretty good insurance, copays and deductibles can really add up if your plan has a high out-of-pocket maximum and your baby has a hospital bill that is many thousands of dollars. If you have the opportunity to get coverage under more than one policy, this can help cover expenses that otherwise would have been out-of-pocket, and serve as a built in safety net if one parent quits or loses their job, or mom finds herself unable to go back to work after her maternity leave ends.
4. Pre-existing conditions can make switching plans difficult. Even if your preemie is pretty healthy and only has a short NICU stay, their “pre-existing conditions” can haunt them for years. In general, while applying for a new insurance plan, you’ll be asked to list any medications, tests or procedures given and conditions treated in the past 5 years! That means even mild problems in the first year of life could lead to policy exclusions or denials for many years. This can even effect group plans offered by your employer if circumstances force you to change policies outside of your open enrollment period.
5. Even if you don’t think something is a big deal, an insurance company might. When our 31 weeker was a couple of months old, we tried to get private insurance for her. We applied to a company that was known to have the best chance of accepting someone with respiratory issues, yet we were still denied. When I read the denial letter, I was surprised to see that one of the reasons for her denial was her weight. I’d never given a second thought to her weight, because it was around the 50th percentile for her adjusted age. However, the insurance company didn’t take adjusted age into account, and found the fact that her weight wasn’t on the growth chart unacceptable.

Doing your homework and planning ahead can relieve a lot of health insurance problems typically faced by the parents of preemies and NICU babies. Thinking about insurance issues you might face in the future can prevent lapses in coverage and other problems obtaining insurance.