How much did/will your homebirth cost?

[Guest*]

How much did/will your homebirth cost. Please add up your out-of-pocket cost and any amount your insurance paid, if any.

Thanks!

[Hayes]

Insurance! HAHA! That might be the funniest thing I've heard all day! Thank goodness the MW's here are relatively inexpensive. Certainly cheaper than paying out of pocket for a hospitla birth.

[TurboClaudia]

Our insurance paid for our homebirth. They would have paid for our birthing classes but we used up our yearly $ amount in our spending account with other healthcare costs.

~claudia

[valeria_vi]

umm, I voted in the 2501 - 3000 category, but if I add up oout of pocket expenses - it should be the next one up. sorry for creating confusion.

[Wildcrafter]

Our insurance doesn't cover any and the total cost, including supplies for the birth, will be about $1400. I feel very lucky to live in an area where there are midwives who obviously aren't in it for the money. I will have 2 midwives (one of 5 years, one of 20) and a birthing assistant/doula all under that price. They have at least an hour to travel to get to my house.

We're able to pay $50 per month as a payment plan and some extra when we get our taxes back.

[springbabes]

With my first homebirth (DD2) we paid only about $900 total counting bloodwork and supplies--this was in 1999. We didn't have maternity insurance so this saved us an incredible amount of money over what it would have cost in the hospital. With DS (2003) I used the same midwife but she had increased her fee to about $1200, which I think was more than fair--I don't know how she could have been turning a profit charging only $800. We had maternity insurance this time around, but they wouldn't touch homebirth with a ten foot pole. I had to have all my testing/bloodwork/ultrasound, etc done at the CNMs since my ins. refused to pay my midwife to do the same. So counting the co-pays and birth kit I think it cost about $1400 (and since my co-pay for a hospital birth would have been about $600 I think it was worth the extra $800 to have the birth I wanted).

[fourgrtkidos]

My insurance only paid 750$ we payment planned the rest. Total 4,000$. Well worth it for a 30 years of experience Midwife!!!!

Michelle

[heket]

Well, the joys of living in the suburban section of a metro area puts me in the $3000-3500 range. In fact, the price actually went up to $3600, but our MW is honoring the $3400 we were originally quoted. My MW is willing to do payments (thank goodness!), so that helps, but this is all out of pocket for us.

[Full Heart]

When I had my first it was $1100, second was $1200, third was $1200, fourth was $1400 and my fifth was $1400. All out of pocket. Totally worth it in my opinion. Insurance paid nothing with any of them.

michelle

[ajsgirl]

My midwife charges $7000! We're in NYC Metro, so I'm guessing that's why it's so expensive. We're hoping that insurance covers at least 80%.

[Pam_and_Abigail]

ours was $1000 plus minimal expenses, but that's can$ so I voted under $1000 for comparison. Considerably more expensive when the alternative is a free hosp birth, but still worth it!

[momto l&a]

Our first 2 cost us 1,400 each. The third cost us 1,800. Our insurance doesnt cover hb's.
Prenatals cost us 35 each and I didnt add those in just voted for the hb and nothing else.

[Meli65]

Wow, we're lucky. Insurance isn't paying for anything (as far as I can tell -- need to inquire further) so our costs are $1100 and change (extra for birthing supplies and the tub, if we want it). We are paying on an installment plan.

She does four births a month tops, so I figure she makes $40,000 or so a year -- not slave wages, but not a lot of money for the hours she puts in, IMO. God bless her!

[~Megan~]

Hopefully insurance will cover it all! Fingers crossed!

[sarajane]

I didn't have insurance and I got medicaid so I could have an ultrasound seeing as there was no way we could pay for it. Medicaid paid for blood work ($100) and the ultrasound (probably about $300)

Our birth kit, midwife, and assistant fees are costing us $2300. We had to pay that ourselves. Well, this last month we had to get a loan seeing as the birth is near and we have to pay her off completely by March. I guess it is about time we got a loan anyway, we have zero credit history. It is good to have some just in case we need to buy something on credit even though we avoid it like the plague.

[Mrs Dimples]

My homebirth (for the baby that is not conceived yet, lol) will cost $1800 out of pocket, plus a little more for labs if I get them. That includes 2 midwives, tub, birth kit, everything. My insurance will likely cover at least some portion of that. However, my out of pocket cost for my first prenatal and birth (in a hospital, "fully" covered) was $2300. So even if I have to pay every red cent, it will be much cheaper than last time! :

[plantmommy]

My two hb's were each $3500, and covered not at all, and 70% respectively (we changed insurance co.s). This was with a midwife in NY (Nyack). She does sliding scales and barters and whatever else she can to ensure that every woman who wants a hb can have one, so, since we could afford to pay (even if, the first time, it was budgeting carefully to do so) I had no qualms about the price.

Those of us who can somehow afford the full price help to keep her in business for those who cannot, and everything I can do, to help those of you who can't manage the price, is welcome! We weren't sure we'd get anything covered this second time, either, and when we did get 70% reimbursed, we sent that on to her too, on top of the original fee, which had been paid in full months before. A darned good thing, since when that check showed up, she didn't have a clue where her next months' rent was coming from...

[Desdamona]

I wish I could have voted more than once... With my 2y/o ds I found a LM, in an ILLEGAL state, and paid $2000 out of pocket and then bought birth supplies. UNFORTUNATELY she got spooked 9 days before my EDD and backed out. I never saw any of that money returned.

I then secured the services of a CNM, at 39+wks, who's fee was $4500. My ins co paid her the standard global OB fee and she was happy with the payment (close to $3000, I believe) considering she was "on the job" for only 2½wk prior to the birth.

2½yrs later I am using the same CNM and her fee has risen to $5500. Ugh! My new insurance will cover 80% of their "resonable and customary" global OB fee... Which I have negotiated to $5800... I am responsible to $200 copay and then 20%. Which totals $1020. Holy bat-crap!! (I never figured out the exact amount before!) BUT because I am a "reapeat offender" and my MW was compensated so generously last time around she's agreed to take the $4480 as complete payment from my ins co and I won't have to pay anything.

AJSGIRL--- It's NYS mandate that if an ins co provides maternity coverage that they must cover the fees of your MW at the "reasonable and customary" rate. you might have to negotiate a bit with them on that rate... Mine came up $1100. And never EVER take no as an answer, especially when talking to the people who answer the phone at the ins co. They are nothing more than answering machines, in the grand scheme of the ins co world. Always talk to supervisors or case managers, keep a running log of whom you talk to, when you talk to them, what was said and ask for direct phone #'s, employee ID's, ect... Makes for much easier time when you have to call back and follow things up.

When I told my ins co that they were putting my health and welfare at stake by not covering my MW and making it cost prohibitive for me to seek the care I needed, deserved and was entitled to my law they jumped to make the situation right. I hope that you are able to navagate the ins maze and that your ins co steps up and does the right thing!

[orangebird]

First one was $2500. This one will total $1649, $1500 for the midwife and $149 for the ultrasound. I think the only supply I don't already have at home is bendy straws. Gotta have the bendy straws. So add another 99 cents!

[Mamabeakley]

I voted $3001 -$3500 but I was forgetting about the labs - that would probably bump it up to the next level. Insurance paid 80%, we paid 20%. That was after months of trying to find out if they would cover it at all with no clear answer until I involved the state agency in charge of overseeing health insurance. The ins. co. gave them a straight answer in writing in one try!

I too felt my midwives deserved every penny and that I deserved to give birth where I wanted to with assistance of my choice. I would have paid the fee myself if necessary, but it was really nice not to have to.