Cost of birth in the US

[mayerling]

I was just wondering how much it costs to give birth in the US - or rather DH was. I understand that everybody has insurance, but I assume that you'd get to see the bill at some point. So how much would it be for a relatively uncomplicated vaginal birth and how much for a c-section?

 

[TravelingGal]

Everyone doesn't have insurance. Not sure how it works if you don't.

I had insurance. The bill was over 50K for a c-section and some complications in labor. A 5 night stay, which is considered long. My share with an HMO plan was $250.

 

[tammy77]

I'm not sure how accurate it is, but...

http://children.costhelper.com/baby-delivery.html

Holy crap I'm glad we have health insurance!

 

[Kunzite]

I don't think you can estimate at all (and it's very dangerous territory to try, how do you know it will be uneventful?). I had a very uneventful pregnancy that ended with two weeks in the hospital for me, and 54 days in the hospital for my preemie. Total payout by my insurance company was nearly $700k. The bill was over a million before the insurance company's negotiated rates.

 

[TravelingGal]

I'm not sure how accurate it is, but...

http://children.costhelper.com/baby-delivery.html

Holy crap I'm glad we have health insurance!

 

[qtiekiki]

Our insurances (under DH's job for one pregnancy, and switched to mine for the second pregnancy) covered all maternity costs except for the doctor visits copay, so we paid $0 out of pocket. We didn't get the see the bill at all when we were under DH's insurance. For the second pregnancy, we were sent a bill of $0. The hospital billed the insurance of $19,000 for vaginal birth and 2 days stay, and the insurance only paid like a few thousands of it.

 

[amc80]

I can't imagine having a baby and not having insurance, so scary. With my insurance it will cost a total of $180- $30 for the first OB copay (all other copays are waived now if you have insurance, as part of the healthcare reform) and $150 for the birth. I have amazing insurance though, no deductible or co-insurance.

 

[Skippy123]

Well the birth was not too expensive (vag delivery of twins) compared to the NICU stay; that was over a Million dollars!! If we didn't have insurance we would be homeless. When the babies were still in the hospital I got in a fight w/the insurance company because it was up in the air whether they would cover it or not.

 

[pennquaker09]

When we had the twins, we were required to get insurance for our surrogate. She was actually covered under our medical insurance - partially, anyway. It was not inexpensive. But this was a specialized experience.

We adopted Charles, and even though we had insurance for her, we still had to cover a large portion of it.

 

[PilsnPinkysMom]

Cost of birth varies tremendously! My eyes nearly popped out of my head reading some of your personal stories. I know you mamas and dads wouldn't sacrifice the health of your LO for anything, but those NICU stays are EXPENSIVE!

We're going to a midwifery center and just tonight learned that the total cost (if paid out of pocket) is $4200. That includes prenatal, labor & delivery, classes, and three post-natal baby/mama examinations. With our insurance we'll pay peanuts.

Now... if an emergency arises and we transfer to the hospital next door

 

[beesha77]

I had twins in 06 with no maternity coverage. It was an uncomplicated vaginal delivery and they were full term so no NICU stay. Heck I barely stayed 24 hours! I think our prenatal care was around $2500 that was not including the big ultrasounds. She pretty much ultra sounded me every time for free but the detailed ones with the tech were $600 a pop. I believe we had 3. The hospital cost was around 4k I think. So Somewhere around 8k total.

 

[taovandel]

With insurance I paid $35 for the first 7 months of visits and didn't really pay anything for the last couple of months.

Our bill for Epidural was 150....and our hospital bill for vaginal birth and 2 day stay was about 900-1000..can't remember exactly.

 

[mrs taylor]

Insurance didn't cover my births. They were around $4k each. I had my kids at home, so it's a bit lower than it would have been in a hospital. Then again, in a hospital insurance would have covered them!

 

[FrekeChild]

I think the total of my c-section is about $20k, but bills are still rolling in and I have NO IDEA how much her 48 hour NICU stay will be. if i calculate things ok, we will pay about $3k out of pocket. Maybe. That's with my staying in the hospital for 4 nights. Thank goodness for insurance.

 

[mayerling]

I don't think you can estimate at all (and it's very dangerous territory to try, how do you know it will be uneventful?). I had a very uneventful pregnancy that ended with two weeks in the hospital for me, and 54 days in the hospital for my preemie. Total payout by my insurance company was nearly $700k. The bill was over a million before the insurance company's negotiated rates.

Kunzite, I'm not trying to estimate, and am definitely not asking because I'm considering it. DH and I were having a purely academic discussion and we wanted to compare the cost of childbirth in the countries we're familiar with. We know how much an uncomplicated vaginal delivery costs in the UK and some other places, and we wanted to see how much it costs in the US.

 

[DivaDiamond007]

My daughter's birth cost the insurance company about $190K. She spent 16 days in the NICU, which was about $125K of that. My son's birth (in 200 was about $30K. Both of my deliveries were complicated and required more than the usual 1-2 day hospital stay.

 

[sba771]

I have no idea what mine is going to cost the insurance company. I know no matter what I pay $500 and that is it.

 

[stepcutnut]

Our plans family deductible is $12,000.00 for in-network providers and $24,000.00 for out-of-network providers. I have been looking into home birth options.

 

[Skippy123]

Okay I was super curious how much my birth was. I had a vaginal birth so I looked up the paperwork and it cost $312,000, just the birth (it was in the operating room) and that isn't part of the 1 Million dollars for the 3 month NICU stay. So when it was all said and done ins helped but we had to pay something like $10k for everything.

 

[partgypsy]

Okay I was super curious how much my birth was. I had a vaginal birth so I looked up the paperwork and it cost $312,000, just the birth (it was in the operating room) and that isn't part of the 1 Million dollars for the 3 month NICU stay. So when it was all said and done ins helped but we had to pay something like $10k for everything.

 

[Pandora II]

Wow! I am really, really shocked.

I reckoned it was going to be around $5-10k for a normal delivery and 2 days post-natal and $10-20k for a c-section and 4 days post-natal.

Those figures are just scary. Skippy, I can't believe the worry you must have had about the insurance - at a time when you shouldn't have to be thinking about anything but your babies!

I don't want to guess what my 30+ antenatal appointments, lovely complicted labour, 2 days in ICU and then 6 days in post-natal would have cost. (my husband moaned about the £50 parking charge )

What happens if you are someone who has no insurance and things all go wrong? Do people end up in debt for the rest of their lives and losing their houses over it? Is there free care available if you don't have insurance?

 

[mrs taylor]

if you are under the poverty line there is insurance that will cover it. If you are not, then you make arrangements to make payments and hope that you make a dent. We did end up losing our house because of medical bills years ago. And we did have insurance. They just wouldn't pay for the treatments my daughter needed. It's a reality that far too many people have to deal with.

 

[Pandora II]

if you are under the poverty line there is insurance that will cover it. If you are not, then you make arrangements to make payments and hope that you make a dent. We did end up losing our house because of medical bills years ago. And we did have insurance. They just wouldn't pay for the treatments my daughter needed. It's a reality that far too many people have to deal with.[/quote]

I'm so sorry, I hope she's better now.

Much as lower taxes here would be nice, I think I sleep easier knowing that whatever happens to any of my family healthwise, it's all free.

 

[mrs taylor]

she is fine now. thank you. rough couple of years, but she is a champ. once she was properly diagnosed everything became a LOT easier.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

I had two c/s but my first was unplanned so I had to pay for all the stuff prior to the surgery (pitocin, etc.) and so that was $15K or a tad more, and I forget how much my second was. My insurance covered 80% of the costs. I stayed in the hospital 3 nights w/my first because my son had a fever and was in the NICU. I don't remember the costs of the NICU but I do know that we ended up having to set up a payment plan due to the unexpected expenses.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Well the birth was not too expensive (vag delivery of twins) compared to the NICU stay; that was over a Million dollars!! If we didn't have insurance we would be homeless. When the babies were still in the hospital I got in a fight w/the insurance company because it was up in the air whether they would cover it or not.

Oh my, that is insane! How long were your boys in there?

Glad you got that worked out.

 

[Skippy123]

Well the birth was not too expensive (vag delivery of twins) compared to the NICU stay; that was over a Million dollars!! If we didn't have insurance we would be homeless. When the babies were still in the hospital I got in a fight w/the insurance company because it was up in the air whether they would cover it or not.

Oh my, that is insane! How long were your boys in there?

Glad you got that worked out.

One baby was in the hospital 3 months and the other one for about 7 weeks. thanks MC and Pandora. It was a nightmare; I couldn't sleep and had to make so many phone calls until a few days before Mother's day I heard that they were in network and we had to pay our out of pocket max amt for in network which was much better than out of network which would of cost us something like $400,000. anyway that was the best Mother's day news, well besides having my wonderful sons.

Oh and I looked at my hospital stay and delivery and the ins co negotiated it down to 95,000. I can't figure out why it cost so much but my guess is because they tried to stop the birth and did extra monitoring? who knows!

 

[Skippy123]

if you are under the poverty line there is insurance that will cover it. If you are not, then you make arrangements to make payments and hope that you make a dent. We did end up losing our house because of medical bills years ago. And we did have insurance. They just wouldn't pay for the treatments my daughter needed. It's a reality that far too many people have to deal with.

Mrs. Taylor I am so sorry that happened to you. My heart goes out to you that you had to go through that. I am glad to hear your daughter is okay.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Okay I was super curious how much my birth was. I had a vaginal birth so I looked up the paperwork and it cost $312,000, just the birth (it was in the operating room) and that isn't part of the 1 Million dollars for the 3 month NICU stay. So when it was all said and done ins helped but we had to pay something like $10k for everything.

What? That seriously is just nuts... How could they justify charging $312k for the vag births?

 

[Sha]

Does anybody know WHY it costs so much? I mean, is $5000-$10,000 the actual cost of the L&D for each birth (e.g for use of equipment, medical team etc), or is it inflated for some other reason? Or is this how much it actually costs in other countries too, the ones that subsidize health care?