Midwife recommendation that bills through Anthem/BC HMO
For my last pregnancy I used Hsui-Li Cheng, but she has since retired. I loved how she billed through an OB office and it was covered by my insurance and then I had ties to the OB office since I was aiming for a VBAC (successful!).
Does anyone have recommendations for a midwife that also bills through an OB office and will deliver at Alta Bates? I have an Anthem Blue Cross HMO.
Ideally, I would like someone that see patients in Berkeley or North Oakland.
Jun 29, 2016
Parent Replies
Hi. I'm sorry for the difficulties. I didn't look at all midwife options but all the midwives I did look at only accept private pay. There's a CNM in the Sutter Network in Berkeley, a Carol(e) Tracy. She's a CNM and works with OBs but does not do hospital deliveries, just the prenatal care. Unfortunately she gets mixed reviews. Understandably you want a CNM present at the birth. I assume Cheng's practice hasn't replaced her. You could try East Bay Perinatal since I hear they may work with midwives but to be in this practice you may need to be "high" risk. But I'm not sure in this practice the midwives do deliveries.
Would your HMO allow you to apply for a gap exception? I have a ppo and I applied for and finally received (I think) the exception to be covered at 90% for a midwife vs 70%.
Sorry not to be of more help.