Vanessa Garcia Clark wanted a more personal, nontraditional birth when she was pregnant with her son. She hired a midwife and gave birth at her home in California. But when she asked her insurer to reimburse her for the midwifery bill totaling more than $9,500, her claim was denied.

In the first installment of InvestigateTV and KHN’s “Costly Care” series, Caresse Jackman, InvestigateTV’s national consumer investigative reporter, explores the different types of midwives — and how not all of them may be covered by insurance.

Jackman’s story features an interview with Dr. Elisabeth Rosenthal, KHN’s editor-in-chief, who advises mothers-to-be to negotiate before paying a big bill.



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Kaiser Health News is a nonprofit news service covering health issues. It is an editorially independent program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, which is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.

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