My dad has to check with his insurance company to see if my pregnancy is covered. If not, I'll probably have to go to a free clinic for my prenatal care. Can I really expect to get good care there? Does anyone have any experience with free pregnancy clinics? I'm just wondering if the people working there really care or if they treat you bad cause you can't afford to go to a regular doctor, but you got pregnant anyway.

What country are you in? If his insurance won't cover you, go to the welfare office. They will cover you through pregnancy and delivery, even if you wouldn't normally qualify.

Is this like Urgent Care or an ER Room?

Yes welfare will cover me, but won't I have to go to the health department free pregnancy clinic. That's what I was talking about.

My best friend is using the state welfare medical insurance. She goes to the same doctors and clinics my sister-in-law did through her insurance. Which means she has access to the same birthing hospital which is used for many births in our area. Most welfare plans have a list of places that are covered, but pregnancy is almost like a specialty, so you normally won't be at a free clinic which only covers general practice. Like if you hurt your foot you might need a podiatrist, so after seeing your primary physician he would give you a referral to the podiatrist who would actually treat your foot, still under the welfare policy. If you are over a certain age and no longer in college you won't be covered by your father's family policy. I believe the cut off is generally 18 and 21 if you are in college full time.

When I had my sons, 16 and 19 years ago, my husband was disabled and that also kept me from working. So, I was on welfare. The state health department had a pregnancy clinic. Welfare directed me there. Had I been a high risk pregnancy, I would have been referred to a private practice doctor. I found the staff at the clinic to be professional and extremely nice. Never was anyone made to feel bad because they couldn't afford more than the health department offered care. With my second pregnancy, my due date was a month away from my 36th birthday,so I was scheduled for an ultra sound as well as amniocentesis. These were to rule out any age related birth defects. Fortunately, my age caused no problems.


I feel like the care I received was just as good as any private practice doctor could have given me. We were even encouraged to break health department rules and eat in the clinic.

I see nothing wrong with free clinics. They are there for a reason, and many many people still don't even have semi-decent insurance. I know, I was one of them for awhile, between pregnancies that is. All the clinics are set to standards by government that need to be kept up to date. I would not worry in the least, as long as you are getting to see a doctor, be happy for that, so many never realize how important it really is.