Hi there, I haven't been on these forums for ages but found your post Arcadia when I was searching for information about this change as we have been affected too- planning our first homebirth for later this year

I have phoned and written a formal complaint to Teachers Health and would like to urge anyone else affected or who is a member who cares about this (eg even if you don't need the service yourself or might need it in the future) to contact them too. Maybe if they get enough letters they will realise that even though not many people use this rebate, the people who do use it really appreciate it and value it.

You can contact them through their website there is a "feedback" section there and people can take complaints on the phone too. They said they will respond within 5 working days.

In my letter I pointed out:
- it is not fair to suddenly withdraw the rebate with hardly any notice, affecting people who are already pregnant and have booked a midwife, it is probably too late to change insurers at this stage due to waiting periods etc
- if the service is not used much, it can't be costing them much money, so why scrap it?
- homebirth probably saves them money, as members can claim for hospital birth and many hospital births would probably be a lot more expensive (eg especially if you end up with a c-sec and anethesist fees, 5 day hospital stay etc)

Thank you xxx