Maternity Insurance at Costco?

Maternity insurance at Costco? You can buy a 5 pound bag of potato chips, 30 rolls of toilet paper and now in some states you can also buy health insurance. But can you get it with maternity insurance?

Business Insider offers this information about their health insurance, including maternity insurance.

In partnership with Aetna, Costco will dole out the Costco Personal Health plan in several states, according to a company press release – Arizona, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Virginia, with more to be added later in the year.

Costco is following the path of Wal-Mart by offering health insurance to their members but do you really get a good deal?

The short answer is, no.

A quick check on Georgia health insurance from Costco including maternity insurance resulted in this finding.

They only offer health insurance through Aetna.

Aetna does not offer maternity insurance coverage. In fact, they never have included maternity insurance as an option.

They only offer 5 plans in Georgia. If you really wanted health insurance from Aetna you can buy it through a Georgia insurance agent and have access to 10 different plans.

The rates for the Costco health insurance plan are slightly less but the coverage has been stripped. In other words, you get less coverage for a lower premium.

Well duh!

The less expensive plans (read higher deductible) do not cover ANY brand name drugs. One plan covers brand Rx only after a $4,000 deductible.

-There is NO maternity care, unless you incur "pregnancy complications." This could be a major deterrent for many consumers, especially considering how important families must be to business.

-Deductibles are sky-high, which is unfortunately a growing trend for private health care plans. For individuals, they range from $3,000 to $7,500 for in-network care and $6,000 to $10,000 for out-of-network care. For families, deductibles start from $6,000 to $15,000 for in-network and $12,000 to $20,000 for out-of-network care. 

Here's a clue to the folks at Business Insider. After Obamacare was signed all Georgia carriers stopped offering maternity insurance except one (BCBSGA). And don't forget that Aetna NEVER offered maternity insurance as an option.

Costco consumers who apply for insurance with Aetna will have to go through medical underwriting which means your premium can increase or you can be turned down.

Costco is a great place to shop for toilet paper but you can do much better on health insurance and your local insurance agent can show you maternity insurance options as well.