So, you go to the hospital and somehow that huge bump on your lower abdomen turns into a tiny squealing baby. It happens every day. Actually, as a random fact, it will happen about 300,000 times today around the world. No, not many of them in a hospital, but you get the picture. But for most people in the US, you have to pay the hospital and the doctor that has made an appearance long enough to 'catch' your baby. During my swiftly diminishing pre-baby adulthood, I assumed that would be around $5000-$7000 for a normal delivery.
After one trip to see my doctor, I paid the remainder of what I owed for the "doctor's" fee. The total "doctor's" fee was $480 (my 15% out-of-pocket). I then decided to pre-register at the hospital, which is next door to my doctor's office. I pre-registered, and they asked me if I wanted to pre-pay also. They told me that I would get a 30% discount for pre-paying. Wow! Sounds like a bargain to me. So I went ahead and paid the $840 to the hospital. So for my part of the bill, I have paid $1320 plus a few lab tests here and there. That's fine, I'm OK with that. Besides, you can't put a price on a baby, right?
Let's add up how much the birth actually costs. We are lucky to have good insurance. It covers 100% of prenatal care and 85% of maternity care. I do not know how much my insurance has paid for the prenatal care, as they pay 100%, so we will leave that out of our calculations.
First we have the doctor's bill. $480 is 15%; so my insurance is paying $2,720. The hospital bill is $840, but they gave me a 30% discount. So that would have been $1,200 for my 15%. My insurance then, is paying $6,800. We now have a grand total of $11,200. If the baby is a boy and you want him circumcised, that is another $500. An ultrasound is $500. Banking your baby's cord blood? $60 per month indefinitely. What if there are complications? A cesarean section? A premature birth?
Anyway, I do not wish to discuss the 'current healthcare crisis' or the 'rise of healthcare costs' or any other such rants, just interesting that something so 'normal' as a human birth costs over 11 thousand dollars. And, in our situation, to thank an employer for providing decent health insurance!
Hospitals are expensive! We used a midwife for our last birth, and our insurance wouldn't pay for it, but it was $1800, including all the prenatal care and the birth. Pretty stinkin' good deal! Dad says he paid for my birth out of pocket, and it ended up being less than the co-pays he paid for Tyler's birth, when they HAD insurance! It is wonderful to have insurance, though, in case something is complicated and you or the baby end up spending a bit more time in the hospital.
ReplyDeleteMy midwife told me the difference between doctor/hospital care and a midwife is that the midwife (typically, not all midwives I am sure) assumes that things are going well until proven otherwise, while a doctor assumes things are going terrible until proven otherwise. So doctors and hospitals expect things could or will go horribly wrong during this perfectly normal experience. Which is a good thing for those times when it becomes abnormal. But maternal and infant death lawsuit protection probably accounts for at least half of what you are paying.
ReplyDeleteThank goodness for insurance, eh?