Insurance and midwifery training continue to complicate healthcare billing. In 2018, insurance premiums across the country are predicted to cost an average of $22,000. This figure may be lower or higher depending on the state a person resides in and what insurance company they have. While insurance prices have been rising slowly over time, they are still expensive for many individuals who cannot afford them. The primary issue with healthcare insurance is that middle American families can’t deal with paying such high premiums every month.
The insurance companies don’t help much either as their business model revolves around finding ways to deny insurance patients coverage, not providing insurance options with better benefits at affordable rates. With this being the case, one might assume that overall healthcare costs would be cut down due to people passing up insurance altogether because it’s expensive. However, insurance coverage is still a requirement for most healthcare jobs. Hospitals and physician offices require insurance from their employees so that they won’t be sued if something goes wrong on the job. Therefore insurance costs are built into the price of healthcare labor which raises overall insurance prices across the board. These insurance premiums can put families in a very difficult situation when they unexpectedly fall ill or need surgery due to an accident. Without insurance, many people simply cannot afford quality care which leads to worse care outcomes and even death in some situations where it’s possible to avoid these outcomes with proper medical attention. Therefore, finding cheaper insurance options would likely lead to better healthcare outcomes as insurance serves as security in case of emergency expenses such as hospital bills that come along with surgeries and many other health emergencies.
Other than insurance, one rising cost to the healthcare system is nursing education, particularly for LPNs and RNs. Currently, the average annual cost of a college education is over $27,000 in the United States and with so much time required to earn a degree, it’s only getting more expensive as tuition continues to rise every year. While there are scholarships available, most people end up taking out loans which add on top of all their other financial burdens such as insurance costs (if they have insurance) or rent/mortgage payments which may be higher than insurance depending on where they live. Therefore those who want to expand their future career opportunities from nurse assistant jobs into midwifery should not have to suffer under such high debt, particularly if they will be saving lives by acting as midwives.
However, there’s a problem with the current healthcare insurance system that prevents people from being able to utilize career training in things like midwifery because insurance companies don’t always cover this type of training as it can be viewed as an unnecessary luxury. The insurance company may also have problems covering the school tuition but not the cost of books and supplies for nursing students which still leaves them financially burdened or unable to afford any education at all without further loans. Therefore a nurse assistant who wants to become a midwife would need to spend between $5000 and $10,000 on their dime just for these costs alone before even looking into the actual coursework enrollment fees which can be anywhere from $5000 plus to even more money depending on the school. Because insurance companies often don’t cover these courses and midwifery is not a primary insurance-covered occupation, many people in this field are stuck in dead-end jobs with no chance at upward mobility or career advancement.
To help address these problems, additional insurance coverage towards midwifery training should be given to insurance customers who require midwife services for themselves and/or their families. This would incentivize them to work harder at pursuing higher insurance roles within healthcare which could improve overall health outcomes due to better insurance rates and quality of care that comes with the reduced financial burden from taking out loans and education costs outside of insurance coverage. A possible idea would be an incentive system where insurance companies cover tuition costs up to a certain percentage (for example 50%) after which the customer would pay the rest out of pocket and insurance still covers any insurance-related insurance premiums. This means that insurance would be paying for an equal portion with how much they normally do within their typical insurance coverage, but it encourages people who want midwifery careers to purchase insurance policies as a way to help offset these expenses so that they’ll have more funds available in case another emergency occurs down the road.
However, it should also be noted that many insurance companies are starting to offer things like telehealth or video links for medical consultations rather than in-person visits and this could also cause healthcare spending on nursing education and midwifery services to decline. While insurance companies will still be paying out insurance money in the form of monthly insurance premiums and out-of-pocket payments for medical services, it may end up being cheaper to use video conferencing rather than sending someone across town (or even across the country) for an appointment. This is particularly true with telehealth visit rates being so low that insurance companies can charge them at much lower rates while still keeping their profit margins high.
Another possible solution is expanding healthcare insurance availability to people with midwifery training which would help reduce the financial burden on insurance customers who need midwife services yet don’t have insurance or are trying to pay off massive amounts of student debt after graduation making continuing their midwifery education an unaffordable luxury. Expanding insurance coverage to midwifery insurance careers could reduce healthcare insurance spending as there would be more insurance companies competing for customers based on insurance premiums and benefits, however, it may, in turn, cause healthcare insurance costs to rise due to insurance companies trying to outdo one another by offering increasingly better coverage.
It’s also possible that at some point artificial intelligence will become advanced enough that telehealth can not only replace many aspects of nursing occupation but even midwifery services which could greatly reduce the need for healthcare professionals overall. However until this happens, expanding insurance coverage so that people have a better chance at accessing midwife training and/or pursuing a career in this field is an option worth exploring if we want to help solve the problem of midwifery unemployment in the insurance industry.
On a final note, insurance can also provide healthcare schools with more funding to expand their nursing and midwifery programs which could help solve problems with insurance coverage for midwife services while simultaneously increasing employment opportunities for people looking into these career paths. As insurance companies are willing to pay so much money towards insurance premiums, it’s possible that they would be willing to pay even more towards insurance rebates to help struggling families afford midwife services while also keeping the quality of care high due to the higher demand for insurance policies as well as supply increases from expanded nurse education programs.
One way insurance companies can save money is by expanding insurance coverage to midwife insurance careers which would provide people with medical insurance so that they don’t have to worry about paying for expensive midwife services. Many families currently take on massive amounts of student debt in pursuit of a career in midwifery and these costs add up over time making it increasingly difficult for them to afford insurance policies needed the pay off this debt, let alone take care of their own healthcare needs. Expanding insurance coverage to include things like midwife insurance could help bring down healthcare spending along with insurance premiums as well as out-of-pocket expenses paid directly by customers. It would also encourage more people to get into midwifery education programs knowing that they will be able to use insurance benefits to pay off their student debt and pursue careers in midwifery insurance. Lastly, insurance coverage provided by the expansion of insurance can help families struggling with midwife insurance costs as well as other health concerns pay for medical expenses while still keeping healthcare insurance premiums competitive with one another.
Midwives’ primary job is training women how to give birth safely at home/on their own. It seems like a good fit for insurance companies because it helps lower healthcare insurance spending due to increasing safety rates in giving birth, especially among poorer demographics that may not have access to high-quality hospitals and doctors otherwise. Midwives are trained to be mobile and can travel over long distances if required which can also help expand the availability of midwifery insurance careers insurance coverage.
Health insurance is related to midwifery insurance because expanding insurance coverage can help schools hire more midwives, midwife educators, doctors, and nurses for healthcare insurance plans which in turn would make insurance companies able to offer higher quality healthcare insurance rebates that could help struggling families pay medical bills while also keeping premium prices affordable for everyone else. Pursuing this option may lead to better healthcare insurance overall due to increased competition between insurance companies based on the benefits provided as well as lower healthcare spending due to fewer avoidable hospitalizations caused by expanded nurse training programs in midwifery.
