# Pregnancy and No Insurance



## Alley_ali (May 27, 2016)

I'm starting a job in Monterrey in August. I was told that because I'm pregnant already, I can't get insurance. How is the cost for prenatal care and giving birth in Mexico? Should I wait to start my job and go a whole year without a job just because I can't get insurance for my birth?


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## perropedorro (Mar 19, 2016)

Alley_ali said:


> I'm starting a job in Monterrey in August. I was told that because I'm pregnant already, I can't get insurance. How is the cost for prenatal care and giving birth in Mexico? Should I wait to start my job and go a whole year without a job just because I can't get insurance for my birth?


Welcome. Price range is from 8,000 to 30,000 pesos for a regular maternity package at a private hospital/clinic, more of course for a caesarian. A good idea to have birth in Mexico, give the kid and yourself some options for immigration. BTW, does your employer know you're pregnant? Might be a problem given that Mexico still permits an array of job discrimination.


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## AlanMexicali (Jun 1, 2011)

Alley_ali said:


> I'm starting a job in Monterrey in August. I was told that because I'm pregnant already, I can't get insurance. How is the cost for prenatal care and giving birth in Mexico? Should I wait to start my job and go a whole year without a job just because I can't get insurance for my birth?


IMSS will not cover you [there is a waiting period for pregnancy] but Seguro Popular will [no waiting period]. It will be more or less free. You need an INM residence visa/card and a CURP card to join.


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## Alley_ali (May 27, 2016)

AlanMexicali said:


> IMSS will not cover you [there is a waiting period for pregnancy] but Seguro Popular will [no waiting period]. It will be more or less free. You need an INM residence visa/card and a CURP card to join.



Would they cover me for other things? Could I still get the IMSS for other things? My boss doesn't want to hire me because "I won't have insurance." But, I think she means "I won't have insurance for the birth" and I want to confirm that I could still have gotten the IMSS. 

Also, THANK YOU for the other option. I'm freaking out because my whole life is being thrown about right now.


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## AlanMexicali (Jun 1, 2011)

You can´t belong to 2 of the Mexican socalized medicine systems at the same time. IMSS is a 2 system system. 1 is the employer pays the employees medical insurance for their family. 2 is the employer pays social security pension for the employees. You can be in IMSS pension plan and be in the Seguro Popular medical insurance plan at the same time. Seguro Popular covers almost all medical treatments.


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## Alley_ali (May 27, 2016)

Stupid me, I told them. I don't understand how this could happen? What would have happened if I had just shown up and said, "Hey! I'm pregnant!" Surely they would've figured the insurance thing out then... 

I thought I was helping by giving them time to find a sub for my maternity leave. Now, it sounds like they don't want to hire me. They're telling me that since I can't have insurance, I probably can't come because it's against regulations of sorts. 

I'm going to mention the Seguro Popular and hope for the best.


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## AlanMexicali (Jun 1, 2011)

Alley_ali said:


> Stupid me, I told them. I don't understand how this could happen? What would have happened if I had just shown up and said, "Hey! I'm pregnant!" Surely they would've figured the insurance thing out then...
> 
> I thought I was helping by giving them time to find a sub for my maternity leave. Now, it sounds like they don't want to hire me. They're telling me that since I can't have insurance, I probably can't come because it's against regulations of sorts.
> 
> I'm going to mention the Seguro Popular and hope for the best.


Mexico has a 3 month maternity leave and the employer pays you your salary if you want to take all 3 months. You have the option to take as much of the 3 months as you like.


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## Alley_ali (May 27, 2016)

AlanMexicali said:


> Mexico has a 3 month maternity leave and the employer pays you your salary if you want to take all 3 months. You have the option to take as much of the 3 months as you like.



The employer pays it? It doesn't come out of insurance?


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

If I were pregnant and were going to give birth in Mexico, I certainly would be leery of doing so in a Seguro Popular facility!


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## RVGRINGO (May 16, 2007)

This could be a “Catch-22“ situation, since the employer is required to provide IMSS for employees, etc., but this employee may not be eligible due to her pre-existing condition; pregnancy. Also, the employer probably does have the right to choose another candidate, simply because the OP will be absent from work for a while. and since she is not already hired and not even yet in Mexico, this may be a lost opportunity. We really do not know all the details, so cannot know what other options might exist.


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## RVGRINGO (May 16, 2007)

Alley_ali said:


> Stupid me, I told them. I don't understand how this could happen? What would have happened if I had just shown up and said, "Hey! I'm pregnant!" Surely they would've figured the insurance thing out then...
> 
> I thought I was helping by giving them time to find a sub for my maternity leave. Now, it sounds like they don't want to hire me. They're telling me that since I can't have insurance, I probably can't come because it's against regulations of sorts.
> 
> I'm going to mention the Seguro Popular and hope for the best.


You may be under the impression that employment practices and insurance in Mexico are similar to those in the USA. They definitely are not; as you are now discovering. It now sounds like you will not have the support of an employer to obtain a residence with the right to work visa for Mexico, which, in itself, may defeat your plan to move to Mexico, unless you have the resources to qualify for a residence visa on your own and to live in Mexico until you find suitable employment and immigration support from the employer. Are you still in Japan, or in the USA, and will your husband also be working in Mexico? Your options will depend upon many variables, as will the the ability of others to advise you.


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## chuck846 (Jan 15, 2016)

RVGRINGO said:


> You may be under the impression that employment practices and insurance in Mexico are similar to those in the USA. They definitely are not; as you are now discovering. It now sounds like you will not have the support of an employer to obtain a residence with the right to work visa for Mexico, which, in itself, may defeat your plan to move to Mexico, unless you have the resources to qualify for a residence visa on your own and to live in Mexico until you find suitable employment and immigration support from the employer. Are you still in Japan, or in the USA, and will your husband also be working in Mexico? Your options will depend upon many variables, as will the the ability of others to advise you.


You are right. There are too many unknowns in this story. 

When we first got here, about 4 years ago, we had no idea what we were doing. We signed up for SP. That included waiting, outside, in the cold rain for 4 hours in a line to sign-up - only to be told we needed a CURP (which we ultimately obtained). Here - in Cuernavaca (a pretty big wealthy city) SP was kind of on the level of a free clinic in the US. We never received any services from SP.

SP is NOT free by the way. SP is means tested. Granted it is not much. One odd twist is that if you rent - even if you pay 3K USD a month - SP is free. Must have something to do with the way data is collected.

Another thing to consider is - and I am on thin ice here - SP does not provide the range of services you might be used to elsewhere. There may be critical care nursing, but there are no 'human needs' type nursing. Family is expected to provide that.

Finally - even with IMSS the procedures are much different than the US. I'll provide a simple example of a procedure to address a deviated septum - pretty straight forward right ? Had I had that procedure done at IMSS it would have required; a lab test, an EKG, a sonagram, a physical AND coming up with someone to donate a pint of blood on my behalf for the surgery. ALL of which would have been individual visits to IMSS. We opted for a private facility.


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## lagoloo (Apr 12, 2011)

My advice, based on what little solid information we have.......would be to stay in the U.S. while pregnant. There are facilities and programs to help her there. It sounds like her job may have fallen through already and it would be the pitts to be pregnant, marooned in Mexico with no job and probably no visa as a result. Once the baby is born, she can regroup and examine her options.


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## RVGRINGO (May 16, 2007)

However, if Mexico is in her future, she might really want to have the child in Mexico, register its birth there and also with the US COnsulate, to establish dual citizenship for the child. Later, it would facilitate her own INM process without the need for financial proofs to gain a residence visa and, ultimately, Mexican citizenship for herself. We just do not know, and can only speculate.


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## Kat32 (Nov 6, 2015)

have you cosidered a natural at home unassisted birth? this is what i would do given your distance from the border and research it. its beautiful and if u have a low risk, you can do it mamas!!! love and light. pm me if you need any help with what you need to prepre. a lot of usa citizens in the usa are doing unassisted births


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

It does not always go without problems believe me I know bout that part and you are better off with a partera who can get help or in a place where thre is help if you need it..sometimes you are lucky and sometimes you are not, the same happened to me in the US ..my husband got a new job when I was pregnant and I was not covered. I bought insurance for hospital but not for doctors and boy was that a mistake that would have been worst if I had not gotten the hospital insurance.. Hoping for the best is not the way to go..
Meanwhile I cannot imagine an employer will hire you pregnant knowing that they will have to give you 3 months off and on top of it you will not be insurred ..why should they when they do not have to go through the hassle?


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## lagoloo (Apr 12, 2011)

I think a midwife with a hospital backup contact would be a LOT less scary. As citlali pointed out, luck is not always with us.


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## Alley_ali (May 27, 2016)

My boss says that I can't get Seguro Popular if I am paying into the social security. In other words, I can't get it if I work for her.


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## Alley_ali (May 27, 2016)

More information:

I was "hired" last November. I signed a contract in March. My contract begins in August. 
I am the one who was hired, not my husband. 
I told the person who hired me THE DAY I found out I was pregnant. He sounded very positive. 
I told my school after the pregnancy was viable. 
My school is now talking with lawyers and trying to find ways to get me to postpone my coming to Mexico.
They are very focused on insurance.

The reason I am writing to this message board is strictly to get past the insurance issue. I'm not worried this very minute about what I will actually do when I give birth. I will figure that out after I get to Mexico... after I find insurance that my boss accepts. If I don't find acceptable insurance (necessary for my job), I can't go to Mexico. If I can't go to Mexico, then it doesn't matter what Mexican healthcare is like. 

I hope that helps!


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## lagoloo (Apr 12, 2011)

One bit of information: You can't have the IMSS employer provided insurance simultaneously with Seguro popular, regardless of your status. This is true for retired non-working people as well.


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

Ut seems to me that you will not be able to get insurrance for the pregnancy, I would think private insurrance will exclude the pregnancy if they can... slthough I do not know what they can and cannot do. WHen my husband got a bew job with the US Federal government I was told I would not be insuured for the pregnancy because it was a precondition, after the fact I found out they could not do that as pregnancy is not an ailment... but they did it anyways...and that was a long time ago in the US..
Check with a company like AXA and see what they say.. If private companies will not insurre you either it sounds like you will have to postpone you coming to Mexico .


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## Meritorious-MasoMenos (Apr 17, 2014)

perropedorro said:


> Welcome. Price range is from 8,000 to 30,000 pesos for a regular maternity package at a private hospital/clinic, more of course for a caesarian. A good idea to have birth in Mexico, give the kid and yourself some options for immigration. BTW, does your employer know you're pregnant? Might be a problem given that Mexico still permits an array of job discrimination.


Since Ally is American and coming to Mexico just for a job, not possibly to live permanent, vigorously disagree with your advice that it's better to have the baby born in Mexico.

The baby will be a natural born U.S. citizen, able to be president, but as we've seen in the current presidential campaign, many disagree with it. I've had natural born children born overseas, and even if they don't want to run for president, it can be a pain. Just going to the DMV nowadays, ir raises red flags. I lived in the ring of DC (northern Virginia) and each of my three children got jobs that involved security clearances. Even though all were "natural born" and came to U.S. as babies or toddlers, being born outside the U.S. raised additional flags. All overcome but still a pain. 

But I just remember when I changed my driver's license from Virginia to Connecticut in 2014. And while it was true that I was applying for an "enhanced" license that supposedly was good for going to Mexico or Canada (I'd never attempt in this atmosphere), I had to supply passport, birth certificate in addition to old valid VA license, proof of address (probably more intense than some govt background checks for security clearance before 9/11), and I was born in the U.S. ... and I can just imagine DMV workers in places like Alabama and Idaho dealing with U.S. Embassy birth certificates, no offense to those states.

Since the baby is due so soon, in August, and you have no insurance in Mexico, to me it's a no-brainer to stay in the States, especially if you have insurance.


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

why would you have to show a passport in the US to get a driver´s licence? Plenty of people have driver´s licences and do not have passports..You only need a passport if you want to travel and live the country..
What is an enhanced driver´s license? I drove in Mexico France and many other countries with my California license no need for a special driver´s license for that. Is that a new thing?


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## perropedorro (Mar 19, 2016)

Meritorious-MasoMenos said:


> Since Ally is American and coming to Mexico just for a job, not possibly to live permanent, vigorously disagree with your advice that it's better to have the baby born in Mexico.
> The baby will be a natural born U.S. citizen, able to be president


On the assumption that Ally is an American citizen, her baby will be a natural born U.S. citizen wherever he/she is born. Whatever other arguments you have may be valid, but this one isn't. As a rule, I'd say it's an advantage for a kid to be born with multiple options for citizenship---which will consequently provide more options for Ally.


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## perropedorro (Mar 19, 2016)

citlali said:


> What is an enhanced driver´s license?


It's a driver´s license that verifies U.S. citizenship. I'm not sure what advantage they have because, as far as I'm know, a passport is still needed for a U.S. citizen to re-enter the country. I'm not aware of any state that requires a U.S. passport, and therefore citizenship, to obtain a DL. A U.S. birth certificate or a green card will do. About a dozen states, including California, will issue licenses without proof of legal presence in the U.S., usually accepting a matrícula consular or other such document. Last year, California issued about 700,000 driver's licenses to people who lacked any U.S. documentation.


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## Meritorious-MasoMenos (Apr 17, 2014)

citlali said:


> why would you have to show a passport in the US to get a driver´s licence? Plenty of people have driver´s licences and do not have passports..You only need a passport if you want to travel and live the country..
> What is an enhanced driver´s license? I drove in Mexico France and many other countries with my California license no need for a special driver´s license for that. Is that a new thing?


As I said, this was an "enhanced" passport that was supposedly valid for travel to Canada and the U.S., which is why they required both the passport and birth certificate. 
The TSA said this year that it may soon refuse to allow passengers from states that have what TSA consider insecure driver's licenses to board DOMESTIC flights. I.m not sure what those states do to make their licenses invalid for domestic travel, and no, I have no idea what kind of legal driver's licenses illegal immigrants get from states that offer them legally.


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## Meritorious-MasoMenos (Apr 17, 2014)

perropedorro said:


> It's a driver´s license that verifies U.S. citizenship. I'm not sure what advantage they have because, as far as I'm know, a passport is still needed for a U.S. citizen to re-enter the country. I'm not aware of any state that requires a U.S. passport, and therefore citizenship, to obtain a DL. A U.S. birth certificate or a green card will do. About a dozen states, including California, will issue licenses without proof of legal presence in the U.S., usually accepting a matrícula consular or other such document. Last year, California issued about 700,000 driver's licenses to people who lacked any U.S. documentation.


Well, your question raised valid point so I googled it:The "enhanced" driver's license IS valid for international travel without a passport, but only by car or sea, not by flying. (So, for driving in and out of Mexico and Canada, and for those who like to travel on cruise ships?)

"Think of the U.S. Passport Card (also known as the PASS Card) as a limited-use passport. It's issued by the State Department, and good for border populations that do frequent crossings. The Enhanced Driver License (EDL) is another option gaining momentum at the state level. Think of the EDL as your driver license on steroids, with enhanced security features to meet the more stringent requirements set by WHTI and the Department of Homeland Security. U.S"

This website was written before Connecticut joined the program apparently:
"Much of the spirit behind the PASS Card also applies to the Enhanced Driver License (EDL). Convenience, portability, and cost are the big selling points here. If you are a licensed driver, check to see if your state has developed an enhanced driver's license Ohio program in conjunction with the Department of Homeland Security. Currently, only Washington State, Vermont, New York, and Michigan are fully up and running with EDLs. However, Arizona, Texas, and California are making progress with their programs, too.
Like PASS Cards, EDLs are only accepted at land and sea border crossings, not for air travel. The license contains radio-frequency microchipping that uniquely identifies you in CBP databases, which should promote a more expeditious cross. Enhanced driver's licenses will be approved forms of identification, in full compliance with the new WHTI security measures.
Specifics
Same as your driver license, with enhanced security features.
Currently only available in Washington State, Vermont, Michigan, Minnesota, and New York.
Approved for border crossing by land or sea, not by air."

U.S. Passport Card & Enhanced Driver License | DMV.org

As you leave a DMV office in Connecticut, some entrepreneurs sell "enhanced tin foil helmets" to ward off both upgraded alien penetrative instructions and "improved friendly" gov't monitoring. I bought two, just to have a spare always at the ready.


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## TurtleToo (Aug 23, 2013)

citlali said:


> why would you have to show a passport in the US to get a driver´s licence? Plenty of people have driver´s licences and do not have passports..You only need a passport if you want to travel and live the country..


In the state I live in, when applying for a driver's license, you must provide "proof of residency" and "proof of legal presence." This requires two different documents. A US passport is accepted as "proof of legal presence," as is a birth certificate from a US state or territory.

US citizens born outside of the US must provide:
a. person's foreign birth certificate,
b. proof of citizenship of parent, and
c. evidence of the applicant's legal relationship to parent.


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

In California we did not use to have to go through that when I live there but who knows now..boy am I happy I left...


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## perropedorro (Mar 19, 2016)

citlali said:


> In California we did not use to have to go through that when I live there but who knows now..boy am I happy I left...


Apparently enhanced driver's licenses, aka _Real ID_, are in the works for California as per legislation that was passed in March. As for the DLs issued without proof of legal presence, they're distinctly marked, which generated much complaint from some groups who wished them to be indistinguishable.


> The AB 60 license looks different than a regular California driver's license:
> AB 60 Driver's License
> On the front, it says, "federal limits apply." On the back, it says, "not acceptable for official federal purposes." What does this mean?
> It means federal officials and out of state local law enforcement agencies are not obligated to accept your driver’s license as a form of identification.


https://www.aclunc.org/our-work/know-your-rights/california-ab-60-drivers-licenses


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