Newborn NICU stay

Hello. I’m trying to understand how to proceed with getting my newborn enrolled in health insurance. My child was born Aug 28 and was immediately taken to a NICU at a nearby out-of-network children’s hospital for some respiratory problems. I was never informed that this hospital was out of network for my insurance — everything happened pretty quickly and I didn’t even hold her before she was transported. We are home (and healthy!) now and I’m trying to figure out my options.

My husband and I have different insurance plans — mine is from the marketplace and his is through work. My children and I qualify for marketplace coverage because family health insurance through his work is absurdly expensive. If the birthday rule is relevant here (something I still don’t quite understand), my birthday comes first in the year. I also handed over my insurance card when we went through registration at the hospital (where I again wasn’t informed this stay would be out of network).

What I’m trying to figure out is if my only option is to add my child to my current plan (and brace myself for the damage of an out of network NICU stay) or if I can pick a new plan for her that would back date to her birthday. My understanding is that she does qualify for her own plan, but I can’t figure out if the new plan would cover her NICU stay. Can anyone help me better understand my options here? Thank you!

submitted by /u/hiphippiehooray
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