Need to Know About Papsmear

I don't know where you are located but Berkeley Public Health Clinics on University and 6th provides pap smears on a sliding scale fee based upon your income. Also, if you do an internet search for public health services for your area you should be able to find a place. Several cities have public health clinics that charge on a sliding scale. I know health insurance is expensive and I'm sure we've all been in a position where we needed medical treatment and couldn't afford it. However, I hope you do get health insurance before becoming pregnant. Medical cost for a pregnancy and a newborns is very expensive. My daughter first well visit when she was 3 days old was over $250. Many insurances will not cover a pregnancy if you conceive prior to the insurance becoming effective. Good luck!

You might also want to contact the San Francisco department of public health for information about public health clinics and also look into the Healthy San Francisco program taht provides health care for all SF residents (is being phased in and is not the same as insurance but provides basic health care services). Here is a link to that program:

http://www.healthysanfrancisco.org/visitors/

Also, you can learn about all San Francisco City services by dialing 311 from any San Francisco phone. I hope this helps you not only with your pap smear but also with critical prenatal care. You should be able to get prenatal care here, even without insurance. Also, please be sure to start taking a folic acid supplement right away if you are not already doing so. Building up folic acid in your body prior to becoming pregnant significantly reduces the likelihood of birth defects. See the March of Dimes website for more info.

Try Planned Parenthood.

When you say you'll get medical insurance only when your pap smears are all positive, do you mean positive as in there is something wrong? If so, at that point you will have a lot of trouble getting health insurance. Once you have something wrong with you, nobody will want to insure you, or if the do they will exclude pre-existing conditions.

If you have access to medical insurance, get it now while you still can.

Good luck.

Hi P. - Planned parenthood looks at your income level. If you have a job and "should" be able to afford insurance, they probably will not give you a free papsmear. They may charge you according to your income level or turn you away all together.
If you are considering getting pregnant, please look into insurance. Being pregnant and having a baby is VERY expensive medically. You wouldn't want the added stress of not being able to care for yourself or your baby's medical needs - and trust me - there are MANY!

Good luck. I hope you do what's best for you.

Try Planned Parenthood. I believe that they offer this service for minimal, or no, charge.
S.

You can try Planned Parenthood. Also, I don't know what you have planned as far as medical insurance; if it's Medi-Cal you're fine but if its private insurance, you'd want to be signed up before you know if you're pregnant because they could exclude a "pre-exising condition." Planned Parenthood will probably be looking at your income to see if you're eligible for free services. They may sign you up for Medi-Cal so they can get paid. A free papsmear is not completely free - someone somewhere pays for it.