I'm like HotI, finding the perfect midwife and ignoring the cost. We'll make it work, and most are open to payment plans. I'm still paying my doula off at almost 11 months later She is fine with that, she cost almost as much as an IM anyway, but was so worth it. This time we'll most likely be having her again in top of an IM. Like HotI said, a Medicare funded midwife will have a lot more restrictions than one without it, for me, we went through a hospital (aka Medicare) HB program, which was good, but not something I want to do again. Too many policies that didn't gel with me.