Is it expensive to have a baby in the US? - Page 2

[poppiesinjuly]

I had a normal, vaginal, hospital birth in January, no complications, and the bill for just the birth was 21K.  Thank goodness for insurance.  We didn't pay a thing.  I don't know how people do it.

[howeberry]

My son was delivered in December by C-section. (DS was post dates and a failed Castro Oil induction made my water leak - I'm still very annoyed at it ruining my dreams of a natural home birth...or ever being able to home birth in NJ in the future.)

My induction, operation, anesthesia, ds's nursery charge, pediatrician check ups and our 4 day hospital stay was all billed to my insurance at over $45,000. The insurance paid for about half this through their "negotiated rate". My remaining bill was $1,500. Add another $500 for my midwives out-of-network charge. If I had had my home birth, all I would have paid was $500 out of pocket....

My insurance was the best my company offered (a high option PPO). The cost of my ultrasounds were covered except about $15/ultrasound for the hospital fee.

Some of the cost may be because I live in NJ and everything tends to be more expensive here.

[Annie Mac]

When I got pregnant, we did some research for our area. We had insurance, but not maternity insurance. To walk in to the hospital & have the baby would have been about 8 grand. That doesn't include prenatal care or any complications. Just a bed and a doctor and nurses. And I imagine that was the insured rate; god only knows what the uninsured rates were. It was a big big big factor in our decision to move back to Canada. Good thing too, because I had a difficult pregnancy and very complicated birth. I hate to think what it would have cost us in the end. Thankfully, we had the choice to live in a country with universal healthcare; not everyone has that option.

[eclipse]

When my son was born 10 years ago, we were insured and didn't pay anything other than a $10 co-pay for the first prenatal. However, the hospital accidentally sent us the bill for the delivery and hospital stay, so I got to see it before ti got paid. It was something like $10,000 for both him and I, including about 24 hours in the NICU. It didn't cover anesthesia (I had an epidural) and I think there were a few other things not included. This was only for the hospital stay, not for prenatal. For DD (2 years later), who did not have a NICU stay and with one day less stay in the hospital, it was between 6 and 7K. I didn't see the bill for DS2, but since he was preterm and we had about a billion specialists in the room when he was born, I expect it was pretty high.

[1stTimeMama4-4-10]

Oh I'm sure that insurance premiums for doctors is a major factor in the disparity - what I was saying was that US costs are way higher than most other countries, and that for a healthy birth, a pricetag of $10k is outrageous. I wasn't saying that it doesn't happen - just that it's absurd. 

[Peony]

We have insurance, we pay over $700.00 a month for insurance that does not cover squat, including anything related to maternity. When are are self-employed or work too little to get benefits ( I work for a health dept no less!), and make too much for any programs that help, you get left with private insurance that is a complete joke. 8 years ago we pre-paid for my DD1's birth which was not much under 10K, for every child then on we do homebirths. If something happens then we will be left with thousands in medical bills. My DD2 had health problems after contracting a disease, we spent 20K her first year of life, with insurance, covering all the things they wouldn't pay for. Like O2. She was completely O2 dependent for 6 months and they would only cover 1/4 of the bills for O2. Some of her meds ran close to 1K a dose and had to be prepaid, insurance didn't cover. DD1 has multiple disorders, insurance doesn't cover any therapy for her, for 3 years now, we've covered therapies 4 days a week out of pocket, they are not cheap either. Let's just say that I am only *slightly* bitter about the state of the medical and insurance system in the US. 

[JudiAU]

I think the total cost of a standard delivery at our hospital in a major urban center with full scale NICU etc was around $17000. That didn't include pre or post natal care and the insurance company probably paid far less. I think we spent around $200 because everything else was covered.

A home birth with an experienced midwife is usually around $5000 which may or may not be covered by insurance.

[MaerynPearl]

my first two births were covered 100%

my most recent one was not covered at all... I had a homebirth in between insurance switch. It was less than $3500 out of pocket including both of my midwives and all of the supplies I bought for it 

[WifeofAnt]

My husband is also in the military so it was covered 100%.  I hope by the time we have another they will also cover CPMs.

[Dlynn918]

It really depends on if you have insurance and what kind you have, so it's very situational. I haven't paid a penny out of pocket for my pregnancy and didn't for either of my two previous births. That being said, I know others who have less of an insurance plan and have had to pay a chunk out of pocket of $500 or more. Keep in mind we pay a monthly family fee taken from my husbands pay check to cover us for whatever we need, but there are no co pays or deductables for maternity care under our plan. If you don't have insurance and don't qualify for state aid, you are up the creek as the cost of health care out of pocket is astronomical! For example, an ibuprofen tablet could cost you $10 a piece, and a vaginal birth around $12,000 with an OB or $4,000 with a midwife in the hospital or birth center. Everything here in the states is dictated by insurance companies and the growing costs of liability insurance which is driving many OB's and midwives out of practice. Liability here is 18 years after the birth, so if your child develops a problem up until 18 the OB can be sued whether it is his/her fault. On the other hand, if we went with the home birth we would have had to pay $500 out of pocket and for all of our birth supplies with insurance. No insurance, $3,000 plus birth supplies for prenatal/postpartum/infant care for 2 weeks home visits. Now that were back to my old obgyn/midwife were going to use the money we would have spent on the HB on a Doula.

PS..HI PJ!!!!

[waiting2bemommy]

With ds I had Optima through my job, what I considered to be pretty decent insurance, and the bill was between 10-12K (can't remember exactly because I disputed and had some things removed). I paid $2K out of pocket and paid cash for my doula's services, which were a few hundred dollars. ds was a full term baby delivered vaginally with no complications. They did however put demerol in my IV against my wishes nd then charged me for it!!! I also had some pretty major sewing up down there because ds ripped me wide open. That was factored in too.

With dd I had no meds and no drugs whatsoever, and a fairly short labor (they broke my water at 3 or 4 PM and I delivered at 11:30). That was covered by Medicaid and I never even  saw the statement.

Every time I have been without insurance inevitably one of my dc (or me) has had some sort of crisis involving the ER and subsequent outrageous bills flooding my mailbox. My credit is terrible because of this. I have 21 negative accounts on my credit that are all medical bills. The only other negative thing on there is a very old, rather large library fine. :hide 

Medical care in the US is ridiculous.

[lookatreestar]

dd was a home birth (no insurance) paid 3k- SO worth it.

ds was uc so he was free.

[Tellera]

I have insurance, Kaiser.  DS was at a freestanding birth center with midwives.  I paid $10 at the first pre-natal visit and that was it.  DD was at a hospital.  I paid the $10, then was surprised with a bill for 10% of the hospital bill, which came out to $400 or something.  For whatever reason, I guess I thought it was going to be just the $10 like at the birth center.  

[Momsteader]

I am delivering in June, and my hospital provided me with a cost break down and it will be about $10,000 WITH prenatal care and immediate in hospital well-infant care, but not including any lab tests or ultrasounds. A homebirth midwife would be $3500 plus $500 travel for my area.  If I select an in-network provider with my health insurance, I pay ONLY a $100 global co-payment which includes labs and US if I have them at the clinic. Otherwise, I pay 20% of those services.

[minkajane]

It's insane how much these bills are! Heathcare costs in the US are just absolutely ridiculous. I don't get how they (the hospitals) can justify it, other than the fact that if they charge it, people will pay it. It's nothing more than price gouging.

DS was born in Texas in 2005. Thankfully, I was military, but the base didn't do births, so I went to a civilian hospital and I got a copy of the bill. DS was a C-section, no induction, three days in the hospital, no NICU. $16,000. That's just for the three days in the hospital, no prenatal, postnatal, or pediatrician. That doesn't even include my OB because she was military, so essentially free.

The fee for the Oxihood DS used was almost $1000. That's not including the oxygen hooked onto it, just the hood itself. They charged almost $1000 just to set a plastic bowl over his head! It's reusable, so they're not buying a new one for every patient, so they're charging this over and over again. That's just mind-boggling.

[osker]

I agree with the people who have said that costs in the US are out of control.  I think that we should have a universal system with controlled costs. Seriously, $35 for one Tylenol? Just buy a freaking bottle at Walgreens!  I wish we could move to a country that had universal health care.. we would be there in a heartbeat.

[Jules09]

My c-section delivery plus 8 day NICU stay for my son came to about $200k, including $70k just for my surgery. Fortunately medi-cal paid for that.

[waiting2bemommy]

about the $35 tylenol: an acquaintance of mine had a family member with chronic pain, so when she went to the hospital to have her baby she brought (with her permission) a couple prescription strength ibuprofen or whatever it was. her insurance was only paying a portion because it was a pre existing condition. so to cut down on expenses she brought her own pain meds for after the birth. lol

[happysmileylady]

It's insane how much these bills are! Heathcare costs in the US are just absolutely ridiculous. I don't get how they (the hospitals) can justify it, other than the fact that if they charge it, people will pay it. It's nothing more than price gouging. 

And this is where the problem is.  Because the bill is run through insurance, most people don't even pay attention to it.  And even when they do, it doesn't really register because it's not actual dollars actually going through their wallet.  For most folks, X dollars come out of their paycheck for insurance, then they have Y copay, and that's the extent of their attentiveness to the cost of their health care. 

[Ravin]

Well, I haven't seen any bills yet. But I expect I'll meet my deductible. Fortunately, I have medicaid to pick up the difference. Hopefully my insurance will pay out part of my homebirth provider's fee--if not, I still owe her $1200. DS's birth was a planned homebirth that had to emergency transfer to the hospital and ended in C-section. Expensive.