Insurance companies are notorious for trying
to get out of claims. They should not have a right to deny pregnant subscribers pregnancy and delivery benefits based on how they got pregnant or where the baby is going. This
is clearly discrimination of women and raises privacy issues. I support the efforts of the Wisconsin Commissioner of Insurance to ensure all pregnant women will
be treated equally. I am hopeful the state Supreme Court will support the Commissioner.

My question is what kind of idiot gets paid to carry a baby and then asks for their insurance company to pay what they have been paid for??? I have to agree with the insurance company here. Asking for payment boarders on fraud.

timewas-exactly.
I work closely with different social service agencies...you'd be surprised how many women are on full public assistance yet are still reproducing.
They can't afford to feed and care for the children they already have, but still want more.

I agree with others that in my opinion the surrogates insurance shouldn't have to cover the pregnancy, the baby's parents insurance should. After all it is their, dependant she is carrying... They should be responsible for all costs. The mom is already doing them a huge favor by carrying the baby, it's the least they could do.

Just because some people get Badger Care, Low rent assistance, Wic Checks and a free cell phone every month you shouldn't get to mad. Just go to work and forget all this BS. Ya know getting PG and havin babies ain't easy don't cha know. These people are populating society, You betcha this ain't the easy life you think it is. Gotta wear the same clothes year in and year out.

let's see why can't everyone in the state of wi be on badger care...that would be just great figure out what a family and single person would need to pay and let us all use it...MY medicare and supplement will not cover all my medication. I know there are a l lot more than just me around ..maybe a s mall co payment at dr and so on , , would be great if we were the first state to do this.....I am not educated enough to figure this out maybe some of you are,then this story would not even have to be told would it.....

I really like the breeder colony idea for purposes of taxation. This harkens back to the days of the founding fathers. We might also look at harvesting organs for profit or hasn't that already been done? What a brave new world we are to become.

"A reasonable woman would have thought her surrogate pregnancy was covered under MercyCare’s policy, Olsen said."

"Reasonable woman"? Good luck finding one of those! But seriously, assuming the possibility for one does indeed exist, a "reasonable woman" would have asked her insurance company first before she went and committed herself (hey--now now there's an idea!) to carrying someone else's baby (for profit, or just for good measure?). I don't want my insurance--or taxpayer dollars--going to support this nonsense. You want one by someone else, you pay for it!

Hey wait--but there's an idea for a little local cottage industry in Rock County! Maybe we could develop a breeder colony of surrogate mothers and tax it heavily (just like Ethiopia and all the other like countries are doing). The local "talent" has proven itself time and again to be ripe, willing and ready, and such a program could...fill our coffers (if that's what you young folks are calling it nowadays)! Maybe that's how we can pay for the Milwaukee street underpass (somehow fitting, wouldn't you agree?) AND the ice arena to boot(y).

Why should insurance cover this?
So someone wants to be compensated for the "job" they do and get free health care. As for friends and family...if they choose to do this, the recipient of the "gift" should pay.
Why do insurance companies have to foot the bill for this?
If insurance companies have to do so, soon after Badgercare will be expected to do so, as well.

Yeah. The only "magnet hospital" in this area...definitely a discount hospital. One of only 2 nicu's within 60 miles. Lol! Discount hospital! Like I said a VAG delivery. Haven't had a section in 10+ years. Which, if you read my comment, is what I asked phred: if she had a section. We spent 2 days in special care and our bill was nowhere near 20k, but I did NOT have a section.

Momof5..Not sure if you were at a discount hospital or what, but a c-section & 2 days in the hospital was over $30K within the last year!

littlemom:
Just FYI I have the state insurance, and YES I work to support my family the best I can. If you haven't noticed there aren't a lot of jobs right now that will pay more than minimum wage. Not everyone who needs state help is just sitting on their butt eating bon bons all day. Yes some abuse the help but don't take it out on those of us that are doing our best to make ends meet but still can't get by... Everyone needs a little help sometimes, so jump off your high horse because god forbid someday you might need the help!

I think the woman who chooses to be a surrogate mom should have her own insurance cover her pregnancy. Only because it's her body that needs to be covered regardless of any profit or what happens afterward.
The new parents will need their own insurance for their addition once it's born.
Odd question, can't someone insure their body parts regardless of what they use them for (ballplayer, model, performer)?

Phred: there must have been some sort of complications and/or a c-section in there for 20k. One of my kids was a preemie. Even so, a "normal delivery" and 2 nights in "special care" were still well under 10k.

I don't think the insurance of the gestational carrier should be forced to cover the surrogate prenancy. I do, however, think the insurance company of the biological parents should be made to cover this pregnancy. It is their child: the surrogate is "just" the oven.
.
And, YES, surrogates are compensated. Sometimes very very well: generally between 20 and 50 THOUSAND!!

To those questioning whether or not the moms get paid for surrogacy... Not all moms do. Some women do it for friends or family members who cannot have their own children. Being a surrogate does not necessarily mean that you are having a baby to make money. I just had a baby. (My own.) The hospital bills for the delivery and stay (not including the doctors performing the delivery) were well over $20K.

its it littlemom or littlemind? Read the paper much? unemployment are 15% in rock county?.. AND the Money to support pregnant mothers is really for the children, not the mother. or do we just throw them down the hole like the philistines did?

Would this question ever be an issue in the public realm if the roles were reversed?...."It also could decide whether insurance companies have a right to question MEN about their USE OF VIAGRA WHICH IS COVERED BY MEDICAL INSURANCE and whether the MEN intend to keep the babies.....The Supreme Court justices must decide if state statutes allow an insurance company to exclude 'male enhancement' coverage for fathers."

jv92, I'm with you on the questions. I thought those women get paid and also get help with the medical costs by the people who hired them for surrogacy. If it is a business transaction/contract between the surrogate and the family, then a 3rd party shouldn't have to be forced into financial obligations like that. Surrogacy and becoming pregnant then giving up a baby for adoption are 2 different things, so I don't see how one would impact the other. This is too complicated.

littlemom: What are you ranting about? I would bet that the majority of women on medical assistance do have jobs.

Honest question...do women who agree to be surrogates receive compensation for doing so?

Hey, personally, littlemom, I don't want my tax dollars to go for any number of wars -- the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the war against drugs.

This case should not be just for MercyCare Insurance coverage of pregnancy or not. This goes further than that. This should be further investigated by Medical Assistance and BadgerCare programs. Personally I do NOT like the idea when my tax $$$$'s are covering women who do not want to go and find jobs and take care of their own families, PERIOD!!!!!!