Medical Insurance PA to NJ - Pregnancy (health insurance, income)

[jillkfed]

Hi there,
My girlfriend and I want to start trying to have a baby in Novemeber/December of this year. We currently live in PA but we will be moving to south jersey in April. I currently work in the city, but she is a freelancer, so she pays for individual health insurance through blue cross of PA. If pregnancy is successful prior to April, will we be able to move and have her switch to blue cross of NJ? I was told that blue cross of PA is different than blue cross of NJ and a switch wouldn't be possible because pregnancy is looked at as a pre-exisiting condition so she won't be able to switch while pregnant.
Is this true?? A pregnant woman can't move between states if she pays for individual insurance without being dropped??

Also another question related to this. We are a same sex couple and plan to get a civil union once we move to NJ. I work in Philadelphia, would I be able to put her on my insurance when that time comes? Wasn't sure of this since I'll be working in a state that doesn't recognize civil unions.

Thanks for your help guys!

[NJGOAT]

jill these are some pretty complex questions and go beyond just the health insurance impact.

On the insurance end AFAIK since your partner is under an individual plan it would be considered pre-existing and she would most likely lose coverage in the event she was pregnant before the move. She would have access to state resources in NJ such as NJ FamilyCare assuming that she met the income qualifications. The only loopholes to the pre-existing conditions are if she would be entering a group plan in which case they cannot deny coverage for pregnancy.

You need to look into whether or not your employer offers coverage for domestic partners. Many employers do even though PA has no civil union laws. My former employer in Philly offered such coverage and it was predicated on you having lived at the same address and sharing certain assets like a bank account for a period of time, generally 6 months. If your employer does offer such coverage, then that would solve your insurance issue.

If your employer offers no such coverage for domestic partners, then even if you moved to NJ and entered into a civil union, your PA employer is under no obligation to extend benefits. The laws only pertain to NJ based institutions. Even in that case, there are some gray areas where some insurance plans are based on federal law or the employer is self-insured. Unfortunately, nothing is universally guaranteed on that front, but the laws are written to greatly discourage employers in NJ regardless of the setup of their plans to deny coverage to people in a civil union.

You may or may not be aware, but NJ's civil union law does not have a residency requirement. If you and your partner are ready, you can simply go to the municipality where you want the ceremony to be performed, apply for the license and have the ceremony conducted. This wouldn't mean anything in PA, but it is a step you could take now in preparation for a move to NJ so you have full rights when you arrive here.

I would also highly recommend that you get the civil union in place before your partner becomes pregnant or has the baby. This will give you greater access and authority, in NJ, to the medical decisions made during the pregnancy. It will also make you, upon the childs birth, their legal parent. If the child is born outside of the civil union, you would be considered a "step-parent" or would need to go through a process to legally adopt the child and secure your rights. All of that legal ambiguity is resolved by having the civil union in place.

Overall, my personal advice would be to wait until you have made the move to NJ and have the civil union in place before trying to have the baby. This is the cleanest way insurance wise (assuming you cannot get domestic partner benefits) and affords you all of your legal rights during the pregnancy and makes you the childs legal parent at birth.

[jillkfed]

Thank you so much for all of this information and advice. Wow. This forum continues to blow my mind way with all the informative and kind people!
To reply, my employer actually does offer coverage for domestic partners, I read it in my benefits booklet this week. This is actually a new job, I start in September, so benefits won't kick in for 90 days. But once they do, it sounds like I can cover my girlfriend, since we do in fact live together and share a bank account. This is the approach I'm sure we will take.
If this wasn't an option, we would just wait until we were settled in New Jersey to start trying. We both just rather not, since my girlfriend is older we don't really want to wait anymore than we need to. And getting pregnant for us is a little bit more time consuming and hectic than a heterosexual couple Who knows, we may not have a successful pregnancy until after April anyway. Here's hoping to earlier, if not, it is what is is.
Thanks again NJGOAT for all of your help!