Maternity Insurance in the United States: An Idea Whose Time Has Passed

Abstract

The phenomenal growth of the health insurance industry in the United States in the past 30 years has served well those persons able to afford this security. In recent years, major legislative proposals have been developed to extend health insurance, through national financing, to the general population. Maternity benefits, included in most private health insurance plans, have been an integral part of these proposals. It has been assumed that maternity benefits have obvious advantages for young adults and for national interests. But do they really? An examination of the economics of insurance, along with the technological advances in birth control and the social evolution in family planning, reveals that the original utility of this type of insurance has been greatly attenuated. Indeed, it would now appear that maternity insurance has become a somewhat deceptive instrument for aiding those who need financial help with the medical expenses surrounding childbirth as well as for accomplishing other worthy social goals. To understand this development, we must first be clear in our understanding of insurance generally.