Birthing Hospital Stress

State: Oregon Provider: Kaiser Permanente Age: 33 Gross income: $66k

I was misinformed by KP back in February that I would be able to deliver my baby at the hospital in my small town. It’s not a KP facility, but they recently became “affiliated” with KP, so the rep I spoke to said it would be fine. Later on I decided I wanted this in writing and received a denial. While certain departments at the local hospital are now KP affiliated, OBGYN and l&d are not affiliated.

After hours and hours on the phone going through appeals, I basically got the following final response: I can use the local hospital if I go into labor naturally because it’s considered a “medical emergency”. If I need to schedule an induction or c-section, I will have to drive to the closest KP facility. Fine, my main goal was not to drive long distances in labor, and that technically satisfies that request.

Here’s my problem – I’m worried that I’m going to be ripped apart by technicalities of giving birth at the local hospital. If I choose to get an epidural, will KP say that wasn’t medically necessary and done out of network, therefore not covering it? Will they say my newborn’s bill won’t be covered? I have no idea what to expect but I’ve completely lost any semblance of trust I had in the company prior to this mishandling. What kind of loopholes should I be aware of? Should I just shift mindset this late in my pregnancy (37 weeks) and commit to driving to the closest KP facility, 42 miles away (an hour driving without bad traffic, don’t want to even guess what it would be during rush hour)?

Any tips or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. This is my first pregnancy and I am losing sleep over this stress point.