Businesses Turn To Incentives To Lower Maternity-Care Costs Companies Offer Working Women Special Benefits To Get Prenatal Care

Some large businesses are lowering their maternity-care costs by providing incentives for pregnant women to get prenatal care, a business-sponsored study says.

Almost 150 million Americans get their health coverage through employers, and childbirth-related claims are the largest health cost for many businesses.

While the cost of a normal delivery of a healthy baby is about $6,400, birth of an unhealthy baby can run from $20,000 to more than $1 million, according to the report released by the Washington Business Group on Health, the non-profit group representing Fortune 500 companies.

The study looked at the efforts of seven big businesses and one Texas group of companies to lower maternity health costs, including Haggar Clothing Co., Honeywell Inc., First Chicago NBD Corp., and Kellogg Co. The basic idea is that prenatal care can prevent problems and reduce health care costs after a baby is born.

Companies in the study have started initiatives that include on-site obstetrician/gynecologist care, prenatal education classes, home visits after birth and services to encourage and make it easier for working women to breast feed, the study said.

They have also used incentives such as offers of cash and baby car seats to encourage healthy behavior by pregnant women, including prenatal care and education.

“Companies have a vested interest in improving maternal and child health at the workplace and in the community,” said Mary Jane England, president of the Washington Business Group on Health.

Haggar, the Dallas, Texas-based clothing maker, has reduced its maternity bill by cutting employee out-of-pocket costs for prenatal care, offering prenatal education and aggressively working to get women to enroll in the classes.

The company has eliminated employee co-payments for doctor visits, prenatal vitamins, and delivery fees. Before doing so, women covered by Haggar, many of whom have low family incomes, would go to the doctor to confirm their pregnancy and be slapped with a $500 co-payment.

“Thus most of the pregnant women could not afford the upfront payment and would not return to their doctor until ready to deliver,” the report says.

The company has prenatal classes at all its plants and makes full maternity coverage contingent on women attending all their regularly scheduled doctor visits.

Haggar’s average-cost per birth has been lowered to $5,574 in 1994 from $5,854 a year earlier, the report said.