Date of service vs date billed/year applied to

I’m giving birth close to the end of the year (due Oct.26 but more likely November) and I’ve been thinking it’s great that it will happen the same year as all the expensive prenatal testing because I have a high deductible (2500) and out of pocket max (6850 in network). However, it occurred to me that a service I had in October of last year was applied to my deductible this year because of when it was billed and so I’m pretty sure that will happen again because hospitals usually take a while to bill.

Am I right about this assumption and is there a way to avoid it by requesting expedited billing or something? I have Aetna PPO through my employer if that matters.

What would happen if I changed plans at the beginning of the year during open enrollment (switched to a different provider through my husband, for example, or switched to Kaiser through my employer), assuming it hasn’t been billed yet?

Thanks for any insight, this is giving me so much anxiety.

submitted by /u/Epiphany8844
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