What is your current mask policy?

No masks required. There is no testing or injections required, and no visitor or sibling limitations. No special restrictions of any kind.

Do you take medi-CAL?

No, the State’s requirements are out of the range of possibility for our small community based home birth service, both administratively and financially. Many health care practitioners are unable to comply. For just one example, because most of what we do is not recognized as a claimable clinical or medical procedure. There is no billing allowed for the ample time we spend talking about all the things that are most important such as informed decision-making, informed consent, informed refusal, pregnancy, birth, postpartum, newborn, breastfeeding support, and education. This is why your doctor’s visit may last only ten minutes or less.

Will my insurance cover my home birth ?

We’ll work with you and your insurance biller to ‘verify your benefits’ and to predetermine to the best of our ability if there may be any reimbursement likely. Coverage is dependent on individual plans and benefits. Unfortunately, even the very best policies today can have annual deductibles that are so high as to not allow for any significant reimbursement. However, the fee that you do pay can be applied to your annual deductible. Licensed Midwives are usually always considered out-of-network. Kaiser has been known to cover home birth in California once, maybe twice. It requires pre-approval beginning early in pregnancy and a obstetric referral for home birth which makes it nearly impossible to obtain and much work for you, the client. Most of our clients are self pay. This means that you are responsible for the cost of care before baby is born. The fee is due in full by 34 weeks of pregnancy. After care has been completed at 6 weeks postpartum a claim is submitted to your insurance for possible reimbursement. We can discuss insurance billing in more detail at our consultation.

I previously gave birth by cesarean, can I still have a home birth?

Yes! I’m happy to support families planning a home birth after a previous cesarean (HBAC). Each family needs to decide what feels right and best for them, so if you’re considering home birth after a previous cesarean but not yet sure, let’s talk.

Will you attend and support a water birth?

Absolutely! We also offer a birth pool kit for rent and will help answer all your water birth questions.