According to the Alan Guttmacher Institute approximately half of all pregnancies are unplanned. Women who have unplanned pregnancies have a greater chance of not having insurance or maternity coverage plans, and this is even more true for those that are looking to place their child for adoption.

The prenatal care, birthing and hospital expenses are usually passed on to the prospective adoption family. In many cases, the individual birthmothers may qualify for Medicaid which is a financial relief for all parties involved. However, there are frequent situations that involve teenagers or working mothers who don't qualify for Medicaid because of family or personal income, but yet they do not have maternity insurance.

What can we do as prospective parents when there is no Medicaid or Maternity Insurance?

The good news is there are programs which can reduce her medical expenses and ultimately reduce the expenses related to your adoption. Ameriplan and Maternity Card are two different health care discount programs that she can enroll in at any time. There are no pre-existing conditions to prevent her from joining even though she is already pregnant.

As the prospective parents, who are already absorbing her expenses, you can sponsor her enrollment and monthly membership fees. You may have to channel these funds through your attorney or adoption agency, although it may be possible to pay them directly to the maternity coverage program.

How will this help reduce our adoption expenses?

Although you will be covering her monthly membership fees during her pregnancy, the discount programs usually save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars on the overall medical expenses. The amount of savings can even go up dramatically if there is a complication with the birth. It would be beneficial to review the Sample Savings to get an idea how the overall adoption medical expense can be reduced.