While doing some research on home births, I stumbled upon this article stating that Vermont will be joining New York, New Hampshire, and New Mexico in laws mandating insurance companies to cover midwives who attend home births. Vermont has the highest rate of home births in the United States at around 3% according to the article siting information from 2010. It will be interesting to see if that rate increases in the next few years now that more women will be able to afford the care they may desire.
The one thing that I had issue with in this article was the claim that "home births are not as safe as hospital births and that the change could lead to higher costs if a mother must be transferred from home to a hospital because of problems during birth." My understanding with home births is that if a midwife feels that the pregnancy is not low enough risk, she will encourage a hospital birth. But most births are low risk making home births a safe option, and many births with complications in hospitals could be linked to unnecessary interventions by hospital staff that may not have occurred under the care of a professional midwife caring for a mother in a home birth scenario.
I find this to be exciting progress for women in their right to choose the care they deserve. What's your opinion?
