Cord Blood Banking Reviews HQ provides information to help our readers make informed decisions regarding the banking of their new baby’s cord blood. Today we answer the question as to whether health insurance will cover the costs of the cord blood banking process.
Are Cord Blood Banking Costs Covered by insurance or Medicaid? Is financing available?
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Generally speaking, insurance and Medicaid do not cover the costs of cord blood harvesting or storage. As this may change in the future, it is best to check with your particular insruance provider about coverage of both private and public cord blood banking. The concept of cord blood banks came about when the medical profession started realizing the medical value of a newborn’s umbilical cord for future possible medical emergency. As such, cord blood banking offers good security for your child and your family. It’s estimated that over 20,000 patients worldwide have had lifesaving operations using the stem cells from cord blood. Regenerative medicine, as this field of medical science is called, deals with replacing diseased body tissue and cells with new, healthy ones. Regenerative medicine often uses stem cells from cord blood for this type of medical procedure.
Cord Blood Banks Costs and Fees
Some cord blood banks make their services available at prices that range from $1,000 to $2,000 a year. Cord blood banks usually have an initial collection and processing fee that ranges from $1,250 to $2,250. After that, there is a yearly storage fee of usually about $250. It’s not always clear what is and isn’t included in the fees that cord blood banks charge so it’s a good idea to get a complete breakdown of all fees when comparing blood banks so that you have a very clear picture of all the expenses involved and there aren’t any hidden costs. With long range planning and budgeting, these amounts could be affordable especially if one has a fairly good salary and steady income.
Is Insurance Coverage Possible?
It would be ideal if all cord blood banking costs would be covered across the board by insurance or Medicaid. It seems that some insurance carriers and Medicaid offices have covered cord blood banking when a family member needed a cord blood stem cell transplant for cancer or some other serious health problem. At present, though, it seems that cord blood banking is not covered by all insurance companies because it’s not considered a medical necessity. Cord blood banking is in itself considered a form of health security. There is a good chance that it will become common practice for cord blood banking to receive coverage from insurance carriers and Medicaid as this field of medicine develops and cord blood banking becomes more accepted and widespread.
Other Possible Financing Options
There are some possible options for financing a cord blood bank service. As mentioned above, one option is long-range planning and budgeting. Another idea is the gift registry service offered by some cord blood banks which makes it possible for parents of the unborn child to let friends and relatives know how they can donate towards the cost of the cord blood bank services which is also a long-lasting and meaningful gift for the baby and proud parents.
Cord blood banks generally do offer special savings and adjustable monthly payment plans such as ViaCord which has 6- months, 12-months and 48-month plans, with the amount of payment decreasing according to the number of months in the plan.
Summary
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