(Advice Needed) First Time Getting Health Coverage – Planned Pregnancy Coming Soon (living in GA)

Hello!

As the title states, I am looking to get health coverage for the first time for me and my wife. I am looking to get as many advice as I could possibly get because quite frankly there is an overwhelming amount of information that I feel, well overwhelmed. So hopefully someone get point me in the right direction. There will be LOTS of questions and I apologize in advance for my ignorance.

But here goes!

Background: I am 31 years old (born in 1992) and the wife is 27 (born in 1996). We are wanting to have our first child and are expecting her to be pregnant around January – February with expected delivery (should everything go well) around November – December. We both work at the same place and our expected household income (AGI) should be around $55k-$60k.

We live in Georgia – specifically Atlanta area. To date, we have never had an medical emergency (thank god). We never had a doctor’s visit, never had to go to the clinic; basically anything medical related we never had to deal with because we’ve been lucky.

What plans I am looking for: This is where I am overwhelmed. This is where the ignorance will come in because I’ll be mentioning the information that I’ve already searched and absorbed. If anything sounds funny please let me know.

I am looking for a plan that will cover her during her entire pregnancy and post-delivery. Which means I’ll be looking for something that won’t have too high of a deductible (otherwise I’ll be paying it out of pocket).

Generally, a lower deductible = higher monthly premium which we are completely fine with. Though throughout my search, I’ve found that BCBS and Kaiser are among the top results. Additionally I found that our preferred hospital (if you live in Atlanta, Northside Hospital) which is known to be great as far as maternity goes works directly with both of these companies.

I know that in the end, it all comes down to what makes the most financial sense. However, since we’ve never had a child before we don’t really know what to expect during the pregnancy phase so we’re not quite sure how to calculate the potential savings between a high premium, low deductible vs a medium premium, medium deductible plan. What would you do?

I’ve researched the plans and don’t quite get how some people have $0 co-pay during their maternity. Is it because of their insurance through work? Is it because they already exceeded their OOP max?

The plan that currently attracts my eye is Kaiser Gold. $500/$1000 deductible, $8.1k/$16k OOP, 30% co-insurance but was wondering if there is something else better out there In your experience?

We’re planning to apply when enrollment opens on 10/1 so we have about a month or so to make our decision. In the meantime we’re open to receiving any and all inputs!

Thank you!