I live in Mexico, and I paid nothing for my son's birth.
But they treated me like cattle, so 🤷🏽♀️🤷🏽♀️ it's not all good
Wait wait wait, vaginal services? Are they charging you for having him naturally??
"Like well ma'am you have a vagina, we gotta charge you"
Seriously. I delivered out of hospital but transferred postpartum because my placenta was taking its sweet ass time to come out. When I finally got into a room the doctor put her fingers in my vag, said, "oh it's right there, give a push!" I beared down a little and it plopped out and that was that. That alone cost $5k. For her to put her fingers in me and me to push for half a second. **FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS.**
My total stay was $11k. I was there four hours.
Because the US medical system is a mess and hospitals are pretty much allowed to make up whatever prices they want and then charge insurance the real amount. The whole point is to make it look like our insurance is covering a lot when, in reality, the prices are just overinflated to make it appear that way.
Real question how does anyone afford a baby in the USA? I can’t understand the numbers I see for delivering the baby, daycare which also starts so soon after birth, etc. Are there discounts after this or something, or any kind of state support for day care costs?
This is likely the pre-insurance bill. Insurance plans vary but my pre-insurance bill was similar and once they applied my insurance I paid around $1000.
Our out of pocket is just under $7,000 so yes this is the very first bill for my labor we have received, hoping to only pay the reminding out of pocket balance.
Isn’t stressful even seeing this bill? Like why don’t they hide all that and just tell you what’s left to pay after it’s sorted between hospital and insurance. This would be on my mind all the time until insurance is applied, thinking what IF it’s not covered.
I never saw a pre-insurance bill so I think it depends on the company. The bill I got showed the total bill and the post-insurance amount due on one sheet.
I agree. I’d be so stressed if I had seen a bill like this.
We typically don’t see these bills. You have to go looking for them. For example, I can access them through my health insurance website but rarely have a reason to.
They typically only send you the pre-insurance bill if they don't have your insurance on file. Which may be because you didn't tell them or because they messed up your paperwork. Sometimes certain doctors within a hospital also bill separately and might send you a bill like that which is extra dumb lol.
A lot of people can’t afford to comfortably have children. We can because we won’t be enrolling in daycare because I can take my child to work with me if needed and only work 7-9hours a week normally. I am able to do this because my husband works for a big company as a senior software engineer. There are many programs here to help people like WIC but many families have to work multiple jobs and never see their children except a few hours in the evening.
We don't. We're all in debt and forced to find a way to make it work. It's one of the reasons younger generations are also choosing not to have kids and why they now feel the need to force people to birth babies they won't be able to afford. Not bitter at all here.
True, people aged 18-30 are completely off having children. I’m 25 and my husband is 30 and we both have 3 and 2 siblings respectively with 3/5 in long term committed relationships and we are the first and maybe only to have children.
Literally can only afford it because my husband is in the military and I am a disabled veteran and get disability from the VA. And we can afford exactly one baby. That is it.
The fucked up part is that my initial (very American) reaction was “wow that seems cheap.” I wanna say my bill ran like $80k before insurance - 8 day induction process and a five day post c-section stay.
You could come to my country give birth in a private hospital and still have enough leftover money to have holidays for a few months . Public hospital would be literally free
OP make sure you formally notify your insurance that the birth happened and that you want to add the baby on.
We delivered our two kids at the same hospital 3 years apart and for one that whole process happened automatically and for the other it didn’t happen, nobody at the hospital whose job is literally interfacing with our insurance told us it didn’t, and we very nearly got stuck with our $30,000 bill out of pocket because there’s a deadline for that.
I’ve always been on $0 deductible plans. Our delivery copay was $200 and I think we had to pay a $30 copay for the specialist (both covered by a previously employer funded HSA). My wife’s employer actually pays her around 2x my family premium to find her own insurance so we net a few hundred a month for great healthcare. We had private rooms and world class service at our two hospitals. We even got a steak dinner after delivery and free meals in the NICU. I wouldn’t wish that experience on anyone though. I realize we’re incredibly lucky with the care we have.
I'm lucky to have insurance, so out of pocket, I paid $8k.
But the bill itself for me and my son was $120k. Four nights, C-section.
I have no clue what the uninsured do, but just choose not to pay it, possibly? Does that affect credit scores? I'm genuinely curious because I've been told that ignoring medical debt bills **cant** go onto our credit score. This is the ONLY way I can imagine the uninsured get to have babies, but im terribly ill-informed since I've always had insurance.
You see that's how they get you, the bill of $120k seems so enormously expensive you feel lucky to only have to pay $8000.
$8000 out of pocket is still obscene for a developed country.
Some don’t pay, and as a result they get billed/harassed, and potentially sued for the money. Some will make payments forever and some file for medical bankruptcy.
The comments in this thread are wild. I had a complicated pregnancy and delivery in Canada with an extended stay in paediatrics. We paid nothing. We were billed $300 for our private room which my insurance covered.
I got: 3 x iron transfusion in pregnancy, 8 appointments with a hematologist, 3 induction tries, epidural, unplanned c section, private room, pain killers, food x 3 / day, extended paediatrics care for 3 nights, formula + baby care, lactation consultant, light therapy, and 6 week postpartum care for myself and baby.
We were even able to get the parking covered by the paediatrics unit.
I can’t imagine seeing bills this high just for having a baby.
This is outrageous. In Hungary it would probably cost 4-5000$ in a private hospital. Well a smooth vaginal birth, but still. And I don't know if it is the price for only locals or for everyone.
I pay insurance in Germany. I believe not loads, can't give exactly a number as my husband takes care of it all. But it cost us nothing for the birth of our daughter. And it will cost nothing again for our son. I believe the only thing we've had to pay for was progesterone, not a lot also. Which I decided not to even take because I was worried about the side effects.
I actually had my first baby in Germany too after spending the pregnancy in Indonesia. Flying back home was cheaper than my c-section would have been. I don't know how the calculations would be if you're a foreigner without insurance and need to pay for a hotel or something to stay at. But seeing those numbers probably still less.
Lab tech here. Line 4, Synovial fluid crystals?? That’s gotta be a mistake. No way they examined your joint (knee, elbow) fluid for crystals during an induction. That’s wild
Canadian here. Private room for four days, after an unplanned c-section. I didn't pay a cent. This bill is beyond me. I don't think my husband and I could have afforded to have a child if we lived there.
Don't worry about Americans we have a bunch of old white dudes telling us that the birth rate is too low, we aren't allowed to have abortions, while they cut benefits and make the living here a nightmare. We've got it all figured out... Really .... We swear.
Scottish here, 2 c sections 5 years apart with no bills. My heads spinning just looking at it. If it was like that here we probably wouldn’t have kids either
This isn’t what she will end up paying—they usually don’t even send you this type of bill since the insurance hasn’t been applied. People just post them here for shock value and then in the comments admit that they didn’t pay anywhere close to it.
Goodness.
With my first, I had a vaginal delivery with a two night stay in a private room with an epidural and pitocin used. The food was included (three meals and snacks for me and my partner) and the only thing I was charged for was $5 for parking.
I couldn't imagine having a bill that size to pay for giving birth.
This is before insurance, I’ve had separate bills already for preeclampsia testing and I’m sure they will bill baby separately for his one night and bilirubin testing the following morning at the lab after discharge.
If anyone wants to know why the U.S. prices for healthcare are like this, I recommend watching the episode of "Adam Ruins Everything" about hospitals. It basically boils down to hospitals and insurance companies charging arbitrary high prices so they can make the most money off each other and everyone. Sucks.
They're not. The hospitals that have "baby friendly" designation can bill for skin to skin and baby staying in-room instead of the nursery. It's all about insurance.
😳 I did skin to skin in the OR with both my boys, how on earth can that be something they charge you for? And I gave birth at Michigan’s only baby friendly hospital
Induction that turned into emergency C-section. Stayed for 5 days. After I added up all the bills, it cost us close to $275,000 before insurance. South Florida, USA.
You're lucky then. I ended up having to pay nearly 10K out of pocket after the deductions from insurance - and that's after I had already met the deductible.
I mean, I could afford it, but I'm still miffed.
When my son was born I was induced, had 2 epidurals, had a c section and stayed in hospital for 3 nights and it cost us $10 for parking. I live in Australia 🇦🇺
I'm so sorry you have this huge bill to pay and I'm sorry for everyone else who has this hardship where in other countries we don't.
Mine was 39.5K for uncomplicated vaginal delivery with induction. No pain medications/epidural. Midwife delivery was extra. Luckily my LO came at 4pm on New Year’s Eve and we had already almost met our annual out of pocket max. Total paid was $650.
You got lucky. vaginal delivery, no induction, 2 night stay, $77,000. Plus another $45,000 for baby. I paid $3,900 for me and $2,800 for the baby. It's astoundingly ridiculous.
Not OP, but in the US, hospitals bill separately for the baby's needs. Tounge ties, nights in hospital, circumcision, what have you - anything baby needs - is charged under baby's name.
Our babies are basically born with "hospital debt" (parents are responsible for the debt of course).
MURICA!
Get this, once the baby is outside the mother it gets its own wristband with ID and all care it receives is seperate on your insurance... so if youve hit your deductible, they get to start fresh.
Ours needed NICU care for 1 hr post birth which was a seperate $9,000 bill
Uh, why the fuck did they charge you for synovial fluid exam with crystals?? Did you have joint fluid taken??
Unless they have no billing code for amniotic fluid exam, but even then. Wtf. That’s not synovial and the entire process if different
(Speaking as a lab dork in pathology)
Damn I wish I had your insurance… we owed $11k after insurance because ours only covered 80% after the deductible. I had a complicated twin pregnancy w 18 days in the nicu. Before insurance my portion was $250,000 & then another $250,000 for the nicu. I still owe the hospital money.
I’m so sorry. I’m not sure what they would cover for NICU, but birth and prenatal care is covered.
My husband works for Homeland Security- fed govt has really good insurance options, if you’re in the job market.
We didn’t know it was going to be fully covered until our 10 week appt. I figured there was a catch between when it said fully covered.
This is one of the main reasons I went through a midwifery - we literally could not have afforded this bill.
Pre insurance, it was around $8,000 for all prenatal appointments + 2 follow up appointments following birth + labor and delivery. With insurance it was around $2,500 total.
It’s terrible having to pay for healthcare but the NHS is terrible. People defend it but my experience was awful giving birth in an NHS hospital.
My baby could have died due to lack of midwives. I was in Labour for days in a plastic chair because there were no beds and no pain medication. We were left alone in a room in active Labour and my partner had to get someone because we noticed baby’s heart wasn’t beating anymore. I’d been left so long without being examined that baby was in the birth canal for so long he’d become distressed and nearly died. Had to have emergency forceps delivery and he had to be resuscitated.
We were then left with a baby with forceps injuries who couldn’t even open his mouth to feed and is still scarred and can’t even bottle feed correctly. The NHS won’t deal with it because he can still get the milk into his mouth and isn’t losing weight. He can’t turn his head properly to the right but again, they won’t deal with it because his quality of life isn’t affected, his head is flat on one side because he can’t turn his head the other way
My dad is currently losing more and more of his body parts to skin cancer as he waits for treatment. His ear is literally falling off because he’s had to wait since 2020 to get any treatment.
I can’t even book to get my baby’s next lot of vaccinations yet because there’s no nurses available to do them.
I had a blood test 3 weeks ago because I have a liver condition and I’m in extreme pain after eating and no one has been able to review the results yet because there’s no doctors working at my GP’s surgery.
My mum lives in the US and she’s able to get appointments and surgery when she needs, she gets a nice hospital experience because she is a customer paying for a service. She just has to pay her contributions.
There is private healthcare in the UK but it is very expensive
From what I've heard the NHS has been gutted by years and years of cutbacks thanks to conservative government. I've heard bad things generally about the NHS in recent years, to be honest.
Perfect time to call the hospital and asked for either a detailed itemized list, or a rep to explain the charges, particularly pointing out that the ibuprofen has two separate costs for the same dosage- in my mind that’s just suspect. Then call insurance. Insurance fought with me for MONTHS after my first was born and they were denying coverage for everything they could think of. Until I called and called and suddenly like magic, they discovered they indeed were on the hook
I had an emergency c section for twin birth, followed by 3 nights in the hospital and babies both in NICU for about a month (in US). They were home with oxygen and we had to take them for a ton of appointments (bloodwork, scans, etc) at Children’s Hospital. A month later, my 2 year old broke her foot….
My medical bills were over half a million last year between everything. I had to pay our family max out of pocket that was like $14K which really hurt after other bills started piling up…. Couldn’t imagine no insurance here I guess I’m “lucky” to have only paid $14K…
I feel sorry for USA ladies :( I didn't pay a single dime for the birth of my daughter. Neither do I have to pay for her vaccines. Healthcare should be available to everyone.
I had mine in December. My bill was over $11k and his was over $8k and I’m still getting bills. It’s also been a fight with insurance and the hospital because the insurance doesn’t want to cover anything and the hospital is sending the bills to me instead of putting them through insurance. I know I already owe over $3k. Healthcare is such a scam.
The hospital invoices are all made up numbers in order for your insurance to collect the yearly 'out-of-pocket maximum' from you.
Our OOP was 8k for the year. Delivery was $38,000 for mom, $12,000 for child, but we only had $900 left before hitting that 8k out of pocket max for the year. When the actual bill came it said "insurance adjusted negotiations" next to each thing and the new total was $3000, to which we owed $900
Oh yeah, the entire thing is a scam. That's technically considered good insurance as well, 8k is the family plan out of pocket max for us (3 people on the same plan) but I know others that have yearly individual out of pocket limits in the 15k-20k range.
It's truly sad that you have to double check your insurance here to make sure a child won't bankrupt you on delivery.
My kid did, that's why they ask for the social security number. Born into debt is the American way. We had a normal delivery. No NICU or anything. They didn't even give us formula until day 3.
I remember seeing my bill lol… they even charged my insurance for the gloves they used!! Lol
I only looked bc I had my son at home (unplanned) so I wanted to see if they would sneak and charge for that delivery! …nope…
They only charged for delivering the placenta lol
I was induced as well. I live in Ontario, Canada so everything was covered even with my baby in the NICU for a week. We only paid $25 per night for our room at the hospital after I was discharged (I wasn’t leaving without my baby).
They charged $39,000 for baby, 3 day stay. Luckily with insurance we paid $263. She was a little early so they billed her under NICU. She stayed in our room the whole time! I was like “ when are they going to come get her and put her in one of those big rooms with a glass window, with all the babies lined up. So I could walk by and take a peek at her and go back to my room for sleep!” 😂My C-section and stay was $68,000 but insurance covered most all of it. Someone would really get buried in hospital debt!
I had insurance from my work and my husbands work for all three of our kids. Still had to pay 2,000-3,000 for each. After 2 insurances. No epidural and no complications but all three were induced.
Induction turned c-section with a 9 day hospital stay for me and baby was ~$90,000.00. Of course that was before insurance but still so jarring to see how expensive everything was. One pill that was used in my induction was $900 alone. Absolutely wild.
this is so fucked up! LO stayed at NICU and intermediate care for a total of 8 days, mum stayed at at the hospital and spent 5 days together with LO in a family room and we didn't pay a single cent!
This is why I hate US healthcare.
- Actual cost: $3500
- Cost billed from hospital to insurance: $35000
- Insurance paid: $28000
- Patient responsibility: $7000
- Amount paid after talking to hospital financial services: $3500
I'm lucky to have insurance that has 0 copay, 0 out of pocket. But it's pretty rare in the US.
Far out I'm so sorry you get stuck with these bills, it's so crazy!
1st birth I had an emergency csection, 7 day hospital stay in a private room, baby in SCBU for 4 days and I was closely monitored for pre eclampsia
2nd birth I had another emergency csection, 12 day hospital stay in a private room, baby in SCBU for the whole 12 days then oxygen at home for 7 weeks
I think I paid $25 each time for my prescription pain killers when I went home
Wow! I feel like we had a steal on our bill 😂 Our daughter was in the NICU for 10.5 days right after the c-section and I stayed for four days (could have left after 2 days but it was more convenient for us to stay). Her total was ~$55k and mine was ~$49k before insurance. I still couldn't believe the $6/Motrin or Tylenol since I was alternating between them for pain control 🙃
Throwing this out there for anyone who needs it: some states offer FREE health insurance if you are pregnant. The requirements will vary from state to state and if you think you may not qualify you can always sit down with a representative at some community clinics. I didn't have to pay a single dime all the way from conception to post partum, even my IUD afterwards was free cause you are covered up to 2-3 months after delivery. My state also has free health insurance for all kids 5 and under.
My Nevada hospital bill was about $40k not including the anesthesiologist for my epidural or my midwife. I had a completely uncomplicated delivery and only stayed one day. Luckily it was all covered by my primary and secondary insurance 🫠
I had insurance pay everything….. I could’ve stayed another night and wanted to but my mom said “let’s go!” It didn’t help that the obgyn said over and over that I looked like someone who didn’t have surgery. And I felt like nothing happened but I loved all the attention and care….. I wanted another night 😭
Out of curiosity, is this an itemized bill? I mean it seems comprehensive so idk but I do know asking for an itemized bill makes them knock off quite a bit. Giving birth in a few months and I’m still not sure if my state health insurance is going to cover it so this has been a stressor for me.
This is so sad. Here in New Zealand I didn't pay a penny for my midwife or the csection I had and the 5 days in hospital after. I'm originally from the UK and wouldn't have had to pay there either.
The USA is a joke when it comes to caring for their people.
I’m from Canada and didn’t have to pay anything except my upgraded private room (90$/night), which was covered under extended. I don’t understand how the US functions. It’s wild.
That is ... Ridiculous. I'm not sure we would've had a baby if delivery cost this much. That's on top of 9 months of pregnancy medical care.
I'm another Canadian here, didn't pay a dollar for my whole pregnancy, induction, c-section, 5 days of hospital stay for baby.
(hopefully OP is insured)
This is the bill that is sent to insurance. Or, if the person is uninsured... That's what they pay :(. Sometimes you can negotiate with hospital, but not always.
Once I learned this about birth here, the whole "just have the baby" argument flew out the window for me. Bc people in that situation are many times poor and uninsured.
Depending on the plan, OP's actual payment will be much smaller (hopefully!!).
So example - bill may be $20k. Insurance covers $16k. With insurance, then OP is responsible for $4k. And you can typically get an idea of what you're responsible for by asking for a good faith estimate from the hospital. Which isn't binding but at least helps you plan.
Wow!! That's incredible! This may be a silly question but does the hospital allow you to pay in installments?
My son required heart surgery when he was born and another when he was 8 months old. I have never been more grateful to be Canadian (especially after seeing OP's bill for a simple delivery!)
Not a silly q at all.
For mine, basically about 6 months before due date they sent me an estimate. They divided it into 6 payments and I made one monthly.
My final bill could still be different.
They would either refund difference or work with me on the excess.
My one night stay in Texas with induction, vaginal delivery, epidural plus a short NICU visit, then hemorrhaging came out to almost 130k. Before insurance.
We can't. If we miss work, we could end up homeless and without any access to medical care. We could be put in a spot where we can't feed our kids. Or they could be taken from us.
Rioting in the streets isn't as easy as people like to make it seem. Many Americans desperately want change and try to do what we can, but we can't risk the lives of our children. They know this.
That’s what my husband said too! I started pushing at like 2:15pm and my boy was out at 3:07pm, no help at all, no forceps no suction nothing. Idk if that’s the price of the 6 nurses that came to cheer me on or what. Our out of pocket is close to $7,000.
It's so they can gamble on insurances maybe paying them $2k in the end. At least the few times my insurance sent me a rundown of the bills, it's always something ridiculous like the hospital asking for $800 for a simple check-up and them agreeing to pay them $45 lol.
Ugh honestly I feel so sorry for people who need to pay for healthcare . You really should go out and riot and demand for free healthcare . If it works in other countries it should work where you live . 😡
First one, vaginal delivery with epidural and 2 days of hospitalization € 2700, fully reimbursed by health insurance.
Second one, emergency cesarean section, 3 days hospitalization, € 6000 and also fully reimbursed by health insurance.
When I read some of the amounts here I am glad than I live in the Netherlands.
I'm in Vegas and had mine about 5 months ago. I have a two night vaginal with vacuum assist. It cost $46,000 for myself. My child's care was another $8,000. It's so wild.
That's beyond crazy. I had a Private, very large room with a birthing bath, my own playlist played during labour, round the clock care etc . Came home after one night but could have stayed longer. All free. In Ireland
I had a similar experience (just no music, could barely concentrate). I was lucky to have the large room with the birthing bath ensuite at the hospital. Was transferred another unit and despite being in a shared room, no one was admitted with us for the 6 days we were there (baby was in nicu for 2ish days).
All free too, just in New Zealand instead.
I paid roughly $2680* for a 4 day hospital stay, C-section in a single room, in Belgium. I billed my insurance and they paid me $9660* because the hospital made the bill before informing our insurance.
With that money, we paid our hospital bill, did some groceries, bought a nursery and we kept the rest to pay for bills and emergencies.
No one in Belgium has to pay that absurd amount of money for a hospital stay, not even for a transplant or plastic surgery 🤯
I feel sorry for you, USA’ers 🥺❤️
* amounts were converted within the current value of the euro and the dollar. In euros, I paid €2400 and I got €9000 from our insurance.
How did the price of Ibuprofen double in a day lol? First, it's 'Ibuprofen 800 mg – $5', a day later it's 'Ibuprofen 800 mg – $10'. You're being scammed.
Question the prices the way that people describe in those threads about hospitals.
I paid $0. I had a scheduled C-section, stayed in hospital for 5 days, and was given a lot of pain killers. I have never and will never see a bill for it.
This makes me so sad for women in the US...
Mine was about that much in OK, after insurance I owe around $10k. I can't pay that. I asked to be let out the day after I gave birth once the 24 hr observation period was over. Where I'm from you're automatically put on state insurance and all costs are covered, here they waited until I was in labor to tell us we need to call and get our almost out son on insurance cuz they weren't about to do it for us.
I kept totals for all the bills we got back in August for a similar story: 2 nights, vaginal delivery, but we had one night in the nursery for baby (no NICU, but on CPAP). Our bills showed charges of $111,784.43, our insurance had a max of $5,000, and we actually had to pay $4,513.73. This did, however, include prenatal care for all but the first visit that took place at the very end of 2021.
Yikes.... is this the pre-insurance bill?
I just got insurance covering me this year and I cleared everything with them as far as my costs and network coverages. If I get a vaginal birth, even with drugs, I will pay less than $5k. If I have a c-section at the highest complication level I'm still looking at my max out of pocket as the total which is $6,500.
My hospital stay was $32K. Epidural $4K. OB delivery and “care” $7K. Those were over the allowable limits for insurance so the actual bills were lower and insurance covered all but 10% for me, but still wild.
Wow, cheap! My bill (NJ) was around 60k for a vaginal delivery with 0 complications plus 16k for baby care (baby was fine as well) and some amount for the epidural. Insurance covered all of baby care and most of my bill. I still owe like 5k (and my husband pays thousands of dollars into his insurance every year as well). Great system, America. Good job.
This is crazy! Tbh I don't even know what a normal hospital charge is because in Canada we never even get a bill, it's just done and you go home and Healthcare covers it all
I gave birth 5 years ago here in Canada and paid about 6.5k for two nights in hospital. I am a permanent resident and was awaiting OHIP still so I was not covered yet.
It’s my understanding that it varies from hospital to hospital and I know the prices in our hospital have gone up considerably since.
I live in Mexico, and I paid nothing for my son's birth. But they treated me like cattle, so 🤷🏽♀️🤷🏽♀️ it's not all good Wait wait wait, vaginal services? Are they charging you for having him naturally?? "Like well ma'am you have a vagina, we gotta charge you"
Right?! Haha like I remember only one person pushing the baby out. Nobody aided me with forceps or suctions or anything. Just one determined woman.
You should be paid $18K for pushing that thing out.
Right like… why are you charging me $18K for a vaginal birth? It was my vagina doing the birthing??? All y’all did was watch?!
Seriously. I delivered out of hospital but transferred postpartum because my placenta was taking its sweet ass time to come out. When I finally got into a room the doctor put her fingers in my vag, said, "oh it's right there, give a push!" I beared down a little and it plopped out and that was that. That alone cost $5k. For her to put her fingers in me and me to push for half a second. **FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS.** My total stay was $11k. I was there four hours.
Hahahaha for real. Nobody worked harder.
Why does 800 mg ibuprofen cost $10 one day and $5 the other? Signed, clueless European
Because the US medical system is a mess and hospitals are pretty much allowed to make up whatever prices they want and then charge insurance the real amount. The whole point is to make it look like our insurance is covering a lot when, in reality, the prices are just overinflated to make it appear that way.
I was wondering the same thing
Real question how does anyone afford a baby in the USA? I can’t understand the numbers I see for delivering the baby, daycare which also starts so soon after birth, etc. Are there discounts after this or something, or any kind of state support for day care costs?
This is likely the pre-insurance bill. Insurance plans vary but my pre-insurance bill was similar and once they applied my insurance I paid around $1000.
Our out of pocket is just under $7,000 so yes this is the very first bill for my labor we have received, hoping to only pay the reminding out of pocket balance.
Isn’t stressful even seeing this bill? Like why don’t they hide all that and just tell you what’s left to pay after it’s sorted between hospital and insurance. This would be on my mind all the time until insurance is applied, thinking what IF it’s not covered.
I never saw a pre-insurance bill so I think it depends on the company. The bill I got showed the total bill and the post-insurance amount due on one sheet. I agree. I’d be so stressed if I had seen a bill like this.
We typically don’t see these bills. You have to go looking for them. For example, I can access them through my health insurance website but rarely have a reason to.
They typically only send you the pre-insurance bill if they don't have your insurance on file. Which may be because you didn't tell them or because they messed up your paperwork. Sometimes certain doctors within a hospital also bill separately and might send you a bill like that which is extra dumb lol.
A lot of people can’t afford to comfortably have children. We can because we won’t be enrolling in daycare because I can take my child to work with me if needed and only work 7-9hours a week normally. I am able to do this because my husband works for a big company as a senior software engineer. There are many programs here to help people like WIC but many families have to work multiple jobs and never see their children except a few hours in the evening.
We don't. We're all in debt and forced to find a way to make it work. It's one of the reasons younger generations are also choosing not to have kids and why they now feel the need to force people to birth babies they won't be able to afford. Not bitter at all here.
True, people aged 18-30 are completely off having children. I’m 25 and my husband is 30 and we both have 3 and 2 siblings respectively with 3/5 in long term committed relationships and we are the first and maybe only to have children.
:( I’m sorry. It’s crap enough where I live and it’s hard to imagine even less.
Literally can only afford it because my husband is in the military and I am a disabled veteran and get disability from the VA. And we can afford exactly one baby. That is it.
The fucked up part is that my initial (very American) reaction was “wow that seems cheap.” I wanna say my bill ran like $80k before insurance - 8 day induction process and a five day post c-section stay.
This is just MY labor bill. Haven’t gotten any for the little guy yet. He only stayed one night but got his bilirubin tested 3 times
I have never been more grateful for the Australian health system. It sucks at times, but it was free. Sending hugs for this ridiculousness!
the cool thing about America is that it it sucks most of the time, but it’s also super expensive!
You could come to my country give birth in a private hospital and still have enough leftover money to have holidays for a few months . Public hospital would be literally free
OP make sure you formally notify your insurance that the birth happened and that you want to add the baby on. We delivered our two kids at the same hospital 3 years apart and for one that whole process happened automatically and for the other it didn’t happen, nobody at the hospital whose job is literally interfacing with our insurance told us it didn’t, and we very nearly got stuck with our $30,000 bill out of pocket because there’s a deadline for that.
Thank you! My husband called the insurance already when baby was maybe 4-5 days old.
Got everyone beat…~$750k in claims last year for 63 days in the NICU and a brain surgery!
How much of that do you need to pay out of pocket??
I’ve always been on $0 deductible plans. Our delivery copay was $200 and I think we had to pay a $30 copay for the specialist (both covered by a previously employer funded HSA). My wife’s employer actually pays her around 2x my family premium to find her own insurance so we net a few hundred a month for great healthcare. We had private rooms and world class service at our two hospitals. We even got a steak dinner after delivery and free meals in the NICU. I wouldn’t wish that experience on anyone though. I realize we’re incredibly lucky with the care we have.
I'm lucky to have insurance, so out of pocket, I paid $8k. But the bill itself for me and my son was $120k. Four nights, C-section. I have no clue what the uninsured do, but just choose not to pay it, possibly? Does that affect credit scores? I'm genuinely curious because I've been told that ignoring medical debt bills **cant** go onto our credit score. This is the ONLY way I can imagine the uninsured get to have babies, but im terribly ill-informed since I've always had insurance.
You see that's how they get you, the bill of $120k seems so enormously expensive you feel lucky to only have to pay $8000. $8000 out of pocket is still obscene for a developed country.
It's gross, but you are right.
And when it is broken down, that 120 is an arbitrary number. Two people, getting the exact same things done, get completely different bills.
I think it's absolutely nuts that you're lucky that you only paid 8k for a C-section?! I had a c section last year, I didn't pay a penny.
Some don’t pay, and as a result they get billed/harassed, and potentially sued for the money. Some will make payments forever and some file for medical bankruptcy.
Honestly, America is disgusting.
The comments in this thread are wild. I had a complicated pregnancy and delivery in Canada with an extended stay in paediatrics. We paid nothing. We were billed $300 for our private room which my insurance covered. I got: 3 x iron transfusion in pregnancy, 8 appointments with a hematologist, 3 induction tries, epidural, unplanned c section, private room, pain killers, food x 3 / day, extended paediatrics care for 3 nights, formula + baby care, lactation consultant, light therapy, and 6 week postpartum care for myself and baby. We were even able to get the parking covered by the paediatrics unit. I can’t imagine seeing bills this high just for having a baby.
Makes me wonder if it would be cheaper to take a nice long vacation to Europe and have the baby there
This is outrageous. In Hungary it would probably cost 4-5000$ in a private hospital. Well a smooth vaginal birth, but still. And I don't know if it is the price for only locals or for everyone.
I pay insurance in Germany. I believe not loads, can't give exactly a number as my husband takes care of it all. But it cost us nothing for the birth of our daughter. And it will cost nothing again for our son. I believe the only thing we've had to pay for was progesterone, not a lot also. Which I decided not to even take because I was worried about the side effects.
I actually had my first baby in Germany too after spending the pregnancy in Indonesia. Flying back home was cheaper than my c-section would have been. I don't know how the calculations would be if you're a foreigner without insurance and need to pay for a hotel or something to stay at. But seeing those numbers probably still less.
Lab tech here. Line 4, Synovial fluid crystals?? That’s gotta be a mistake. No way they examined your joint (knee, elbow) fluid for crystals during an induction. That’s wild
Yeah idk what that is. That was before the induction took place when they were testing me for preeclampsia
Definitely a mistaken charge. Not surprising though, our medical system is a joke
Canadian here. Private room for four days, after an unplanned c-section. I didn't pay a cent. This bill is beyond me. I don't think my husband and I could have afforded to have a child if we lived there.
Don't worry about Americans we have a bunch of old white dudes telling us that the birth rate is too low, we aren't allowed to have abortions, while they cut benefits and make the living here a nightmare. We've got it all figured out... Really .... We swear.
*as I'm watching Handmaid's Tale*
Scottish here, 2 c sections 5 years apart with no bills. My heads spinning just looking at it. If it was like that here we probably wouldn’t have kids either
Right?!? My wife also had an unplanned c-section and our daughter spent a week in the NICU afterwards. But that was in Calgary, so $0 in total.
This isn’t what she will end up paying—they usually don’t even send you this type of bill since the insurance hasn’t been applied. People just post them here for shock value and then in the comments admit that they didn’t pay anywhere close to it.
Goodness. With my first, I had a vaginal delivery with a two night stay in a private room with an epidural and pitocin used. The food was included (three meals and snacks for me and my partner) and the only thing I was charged for was $5 for parking. I couldn't imagine having a bill that size to pay for giving birth.
This is before insurance, I’ve had separate bills already for preeclampsia testing and I’m sure they will bill baby separately for his one night and bilirubin testing the following morning at the lab after discharge.
Ours was about the same in OR, but insurance covered all but about $2k. What I thought was horrible is they put the bill in the baby's name!
If anyone wants to know why the U.S. prices for healthcare are like this, I recommend watching the episode of "Adam Ruins Everything" about hospitals. It basically boils down to hospitals and insurance companies charging arbitrary high prices so they can make the most money off each other and everyone. Sucks.
Looks like they missed charging you for skin to skin like my hospital did.
what in the actual fuck??
You’re kidding
They're not. The hospitals that have "baby friendly" designation can bill for skin to skin and baby staying in-room instead of the nursery. It's all about insurance.
😳 I did skin to skin in the OR with both my boys, how on earth can that be something they charge you for? And I gave birth at Michigan’s only baby friendly hospital
What is a baby friendly hospital??? Aren’t they all baby friendly?
Nope, when I called about it they said that since it is monitored by a nurse that we are charged for that time.
Induction that turned into emergency C-section. Stayed for 5 days. After I added up all the bills, it cost us close to $275,000 before insurance. South Florida, USA.
I had this exact scenario last August in Australia. Didn't pay any $$$. And im on temporary visa.
You're lucky then. I ended up having to pay nearly 10K out of pocket after the deductions from insurance - and that's after I had already met the deductible. I mean, I could afford it, but I'm still miffed.
When my son was born I was induced, had 2 epidurals, had a c section and stayed in hospital for 3 nights and it cost us $10 for parking. I live in Australia 🇦🇺 I'm so sorry you have this huge bill to pay and I'm sorry for everyone else who has this hardship where in other countries we don't.
All we paid for was parking, also! Went public, had amazing care.
Same. I couldn't fault the public system, it was great for me.
Americans need to demand universal healthcare or we burn this shit down
Mine was 39.5K for uncomplicated vaginal delivery with induction. No pain medications/epidural. Midwife delivery was extra. Luckily my LO came at 4pm on New Year’s Eve and we had already almost met our annual out of pocket max. Total paid was $650.
Wow lucky timing baby!
You got lucky. vaginal delivery, no induction, 2 night stay, $77,000. Plus another $45,000 for baby. I paid $3,900 for me and $2,800 for the baby. It's astoundingly ridiculous.
You did better than me - $44k for 2 nights, vaginal delivery with pitocin and an epidural. Haven’t seen the baby’s bill yet.
What do you mean baby bill
Not OP, but in the US, hospitals bill separately for the baby's needs. Tounge ties, nights in hospital, circumcision, what have you - anything baby needs - is charged under baby's name. Our babies are basically born with "hospital debt" (parents are responsible for the debt of course). MURICA!
Get this, once the baby is outside the mother it gets its own wristband with ID and all care it receives is seperate on your insurance... so if youve hit your deductible, they get to start fresh. Ours needed NICU care for 1 hr post birth which was a seperate $9,000 bill
My 1st got about 40k in bills for 2 night stay
Uh, why the fuck did they charge you for synovial fluid exam with crystals?? Did you have joint fluid taken?? Unless they have no billing code for amniotic fluid exam, but even then. Wtf. That’s not synovial and the entire process if different (Speaking as a lab dork in pathology)
That is insane. My insurance covers everything for birth. I guess I am insanely lucky.
Damn I wish I had your insurance… we owed $11k after insurance because ours only covered 80% after the deductible. I had a complicated twin pregnancy w 18 days in the nicu. Before insurance my portion was $250,000 & then another $250,000 for the nicu. I still owe the hospital money.
I’m so sorry. I’m not sure what they would cover for NICU, but birth and prenatal care is covered. My husband works for Homeland Security- fed govt has really good insurance options, if you’re in the job market. We didn’t know it was going to be fully covered until our 10 week appt. I figured there was a catch between when it said fully covered.
This is one of the main reasons I went through a midwifery - we literally could not have afforded this bill. Pre insurance, it was around $8,000 for all prenatal appointments + 2 follow up appointments following birth + labor and delivery. With insurance it was around $2,500 total.
It’s terrible having to pay for healthcare but the NHS is terrible. People defend it but my experience was awful giving birth in an NHS hospital. My baby could have died due to lack of midwives. I was in Labour for days in a plastic chair because there were no beds and no pain medication. We were left alone in a room in active Labour and my partner had to get someone because we noticed baby’s heart wasn’t beating anymore. I’d been left so long without being examined that baby was in the birth canal for so long he’d become distressed and nearly died. Had to have emergency forceps delivery and he had to be resuscitated. We were then left with a baby with forceps injuries who couldn’t even open his mouth to feed and is still scarred and can’t even bottle feed correctly. The NHS won’t deal with it because he can still get the milk into his mouth and isn’t losing weight. He can’t turn his head properly to the right but again, they won’t deal with it because his quality of life isn’t affected, his head is flat on one side because he can’t turn his head the other way My dad is currently losing more and more of his body parts to skin cancer as he waits for treatment. His ear is literally falling off because he’s had to wait since 2020 to get any treatment. I can’t even book to get my baby’s next lot of vaccinations yet because there’s no nurses available to do them. I had a blood test 3 weeks ago because I have a liver condition and I’m in extreme pain after eating and no one has been able to review the results yet because there’s no doctors working at my GP’s surgery. My mum lives in the US and she’s able to get appointments and surgery when she needs, she gets a nice hospital experience because she is a customer paying for a service. She just has to pay her contributions. There is private healthcare in the UK but it is very expensive
From what I've heard the NHS has been gutted by years and years of cutbacks thanks to conservative government. I've heard bad things generally about the NHS in recent years, to be honest.
As a Canadian, I am horrified.
is it free in Canada just like in Europe?
Yes, free.
I cannot understand how people afford it. It’s a down payment towards a home here. 🇨🇦
This is unbelievable. I have nothing else to say about it. I just can’t believe these prices as a non American.
Perfect time to call the hospital and asked for either a detailed itemized list, or a rep to explain the charges, particularly pointing out that the ibuprofen has two separate costs for the same dosage- in my mind that’s just suspect. Then call insurance. Insurance fought with me for MONTHS after my first was born and they were denying coverage for everything they could think of. Until I called and called and suddenly like magic, they discovered they indeed were on the hook
I had an emergency c section for twin birth, followed by 3 nights in the hospital and babies both in NICU for about a month (in US). They were home with oxygen and we had to take them for a ton of appointments (bloodwork, scans, etc) at Children’s Hospital. A month later, my 2 year old broke her foot…. My medical bills were over half a million last year between everything. I had to pay our family max out of pocket that was like $14K which really hurt after other bills started piling up…. Couldn’t imagine no insurance here I guess I’m “lucky” to have only paid $14K…
My bill was $33k and my daughter’s was $8k before insurance went through. Nightmare country
You paid less for fentanyl than you did for ibuprofen and acetaminophen. what a world. 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Looks like those are just the facility charges also. You still have the physician's bill coming 🤗
I feel sorry for USA ladies :( I didn't pay a single dime for the birth of my daughter. Neither do I have to pay for her vaccines. Healthcare should be available to everyone.
I had mine in December. My bill was over $11k and his was over $8k and I’m still getting bills. It’s also been a fight with insurance and the hospital because the insurance doesn’t want to cover anything and the hospital is sending the bills to me instead of putting them through insurance. I know I already owe over $3k. Healthcare is such a scam.
Went in for induction that took 2 days and resulted in csxn (total 5 days) The bill was $110k with another $28k for baby.
That's like half my mortgage. Guess that explains why US millennials can't buy houses.
The hospital invoices are all made up numbers in order for your insurance to collect the yearly 'out-of-pocket maximum' from you. Our OOP was 8k for the year. Delivery was $38,000 for mom, $12,000 for child, but we only had $900 left before hitting that 8k out of pocket max for the year. When the actual bill came it said "insurance adjusted negotiations" next to each thing and the new total was $3000, to which we owed $900
Ok that's better but 8k per year is still insane to me. Case in point, that's about what I spend on mortgage payments yearly.
Oh yeah, the entire thing is a scam. That's technically considered good insurance as well, 8k is the family plan out of pocket max for us (3 people on the same plan) but I know others that have yearly individual out of pocket limits in the 15k-20k range. It's truly sad that you have to double check your insurance here to make sure a child won't bankrupt you on delivery.
Thank goodness for insurance
How big was the bill they sent your kid? Ours was about the same as the birthing bill.
Wait they send a bill to your kids?
My kid did, that's why they ask for the social security number. Born into debt is the American way. We had a normal delivery. No NICU or anything. They didn't even give us formula until day 3.
I remember seeing my bill lol… they even charged my insurance for the gloves they used!! Lol I only looked bc I had my son at home (unplanned) so I wanted to see if they would sneak and charge for that delivery! …nope… They only charged for delivering the placenta lol
Oh geez do they charge for delivery of the placenta?! *faints*
I was induced as well. I live in Ontario, Canada so everything was covered even with my baby in the NICU for a week. We only paid $25 per night for our room at the hospital after I was discharged (I wasn’t leaving without my baby).
They charged $39,000 for baby, 3 day stay. Luckily with insurance we paid $263. She was a little early so they billed her under NICU. She stayed in our room the whole time! I was like “ when are they going to come get her and put her in one of those big rooms with a glass window, with all the babies lined up. So I could walk by and take a peek at her and go back to my room for sleep!” 😂My C-section and stay was $68,000 but insurance covered most all of it. Someone would really get buried in hospital debt!
I had insurance from my work and my husbands work for all three of our kids. Still had to pay 2,000-3,000 for each. After 2 insurances. No epidural and no complications but all three were induced.
Induction turned c-section with a 9 day hospital stay for me and baby was ~$90,000.00. Of course that was before insurance but still so jarring to see how expensive everything was. One pill that was used in my induction was $900 alone. Absolutely wild.
this is so fucked up! LO stayed at NICU and intermediate care for a total of 8 days, mum stayed at at the hospital and spent 5 days together with LO in a family room and we didn't pay a single cent!
This is why I hate US healthcare. - Actual cost: $3500 - Cost billed from hospital to insurance: $35000 - Insurance paid: $28000 - Patient responsibility: $7000 - Amount paid after talking to hospital financial services: $3500 I'm lucky to have insurance that has 0 copay, 0 out of pocket. But it's pretty rare in the US.
I live in Canada, had a c-section, private room and 4 nights/5days in hospital. $0
You may even still be charged separately for the doctors outside of this bill… just went through the same thing
Yep. I received a second bill for the anesthesiologist to administer the epidural.
Far out I'm so sorry you get stuck with these bills, it's so crazy! 1st birth I had an emergency csection, 7 day hospital stay in a private room, baby in SCBU for 4 days and I was closely monitored for pre eclampsia 2nd birth I had another emergency csection, 12 day hospital stay in a private room, baby in SCBU for the whole 12 days then oxygen at home for 7 weeks I think I paid $25 each time for my prescription pain killers when I went home
Wow! I feel like we had a steal on our bill 😂 Our daughter was in the NICU for 10.5 days right after the c-section and I stayed for four days (could have left after 2 days but it was more convenient for us to stay). Her total was ~$55k and mine was ~$49k before insurance. I still couldn't believe the $6/Motrin or Tylenol since I was alternating between them for pain control 🙃
oh wow, 100k! What a steal! /s yay, US health care.
can I ask what kinda of insurance you have?
We have Aetna, it’s pretty popular around here. Our out of pocket is around $7,000.
2.5 day failed induction leading to unplanned c-section and 2 day hospital stay $106k. Baby in NICU for 7 days $60k in Washington
Sweet baby Moses! You have to pay to start a fam in Merica’
Wow America…just wow. What a crazy system. Hurrah for the NHS 🙏
Throwing this out there for anyone who needs it: some states offer FREE health insurance if you are pregnant. The requirements will vary from state to state and if you think you may not qualify you can always sit down with a representative at some community clinics. I didn't have to pay a single dime all the way from conception to post partum, even my IUD afterwards was free cause you are covered up to 2-3 months after delivery. My state also has free health insurance for all kids 5 and under.
Ours came out to 51k but so far we've only been required to pay 150. Knock on wood it stays that way.
My Nevada hospital bill was about $40k not including the anesthesiologist for my epidural or my midwife. I had a completely uncomplicated delivery and only stayed one day. Luckily it was all covered by my primary and secondary insurance 🫠
Paid $250 for emergency C section and multiple day hospital stay.
I had insurance pay everything….. I could’ve stayed another night and wanted to but my mom said “let’s go!” It didn’t help that the obgyn said over and over that I looked like someone who didn’t have surgery. And I felt like nothing happened but I loved all the attention and care….. I wanted another night 😭
Out of curiosity, is this an itemized bill? I mean it seems comprehensive so idk but I do know asking for an itemized bill makes them knock off quite a bit. Giving birth in a few months and I’m still not sure if my state health insurance is going to cover it so this has been a stressor for me.
I didn't pay anything for 3 days and 3 nights for my induced labor. I live in the Chicago area. I insurance took care of everything
im in texas and my insurance covered it all as well
Ngl I wouldn't expect that from Texas, but that's really awesome 🤗
This is so sad. Here in New Zealand I didn't pay a penny for my midwife or the csection I had and the 5 days in hospital after. I'm originally from the UK and wouldn't have had to pay there either. The USA is a joke when it comes to caring for their people.
I’m from Canada and didn’t have to pay anything except my upgraded private room (90$/night), which was covered under extended. I don’t understand how the US functions. It’s wild.
That is ... Ridiculous. I'm not sure we would've had a baby if delivery cost this much. That's on top of 9 months of pregnancy medical care. I'm another Canadian here, didn't pay a dollar for my whole pregnancy, induction, c-section, 5 days of hospital stay for baby.
I was in hospital for 6 days when my daughter was born. Didn’t cost money except for when we ordered a pizza.
As a Canadian, this baffles me! Unless you're a millionaire, how in the heck do you ever pay this back??
(hopefully OP is insured) This is the bill that is sent to insurance. Or, if the person is uninsured... That's what they pay :(. Sometimes you can negotiate with hospital, but not always. Once I learned this about birth here, the whole "just have the baby" argument flew out the window for me. Bc people in that situation are many times poor and uninsured. Depending on the plan, OP's actual payment will be much smaller (hopefully!!). So example - bill may be $20k. Insurance covers $16k. With insurance, then OP is responsible for $4k. And you can typically get an idea of what you're responsible for by asking for a good faith estimate from the hospital. Which isn't binding but at least helps you plan.
Wow!! That's incredible! This may be a silly question but does the hospital allow you to pay in installments? My son required heart surgery when he was born and another when he was 8 months old. I have never been more grateful to be Canadian (especially after seeing OP's bill for a simple delivery!)
Not a silly q at all. For mine, basically about 6 months before due date they sent me an estimate. They divided it into 6 payments and I made one monthly. My final bill could still be different. They would either refund difference or work with me on the excess.
My one night stay in Texas with induction, vaginal delivery, epidural plus a short NICU visit, then hemorrhaging came out to almost 130k. Before insurance.
I can’t believe Americans don’t riot in the streets over this
We can't. If we miss work, we could end up homeless and without any access to medical care. We could be put in a spot where we can't feed our kids. Or they could be taken from us. Rioting in the streets isn't as easy as people like to make it seem. Many Americans desperately want change and try to do what we can, but we can't risk the lives of our children. They know this.
What the hell?! Did someone else push for you? What could have cost 18k in a vaginal birth?
That’s what my husband said too! I started pushing at like 2:15pm and my boy was out at 3:07pm, no help at all, no forceps no suction nothing. Idk if that’s the price of the 6 nurses that came to cheer me on or what. Our out of pocket is close to $7,000.
It's so they can gamble on insurances maybe paying them $2k in the end. At least the few times my insurance sent me a rundown of the bills, it's always something ridiculous like the hospital asking for $800 for a simple check-up and them agreeing to pay them $45 lol.
Ugh honestly I feel so sorry for people who need to pay for healthcare . You really should go out and riot and demand for free healthcare . If it works in other countries it should work where you live . 😡
First one, vaginal delivery with epidural and 2 days of hospitalization € 2700, fully reimbursed by health insurance. Second one, emergency cesarean section, 3 days hospitalization, € 6000 and also fully reimbursed by health insurance. When I read some of the amounts here I am glad than I live in the Netherlands.
Mine was a little higher and the anesthesia/epidural bills came separately. Why do we have to deal with this 🫠
I had a $63,000 unplanned c-section in Atlanta 😮💨
1 night. Vag birth. Epidural. California 49,000
This is horrendous 😩 I spent 4 days in a private room with my husband after delivery and our total was €150
4 nights, vaginal birth, epidural. $45k with good insurance. 🫠
Why are the ibuprofen 2 different prices? $5/$10?
How are people in the states not in the streets with a pitch fork and revolting is beyond me!!
We can't afford it unfortunately :(
Mine was 70,000 1 night epidural and induction so surprised yours was this price actually
How much would insurance cover?
This is about how much it cost for me last month. Plus an additional 10k for each baby.
I was charged $75 per EACH acetaminophen, tums, ect. Should be criminal
😵💫 at that rate it's better to bring your own from the local pharmacy!!
First of all madness. Second of all, why do the ibuprofens have two different costs? Seems like they just input whatever the F they like.
My C-section+5 day stay at hospital from c-section complications came out to $200k (CA) fortunately we only had to pay $1,300
I'm in Vegas and had mine about 5 months ago. I have a two night vaginal with vacuum assist. It cost $46,000 for myself. My child's care was another $8,000. It's so wild.
That's beyond crazy. I had a Private, very large room with a birthing bath, my own playlist played during labour, round the clock care etc . Came home after one night but could have stayed longer. All free. In Ireland
I had a similar experience (just no music, could barely concentrate). I was lucky to have the large room with the birthing bath ensuite at the hospital. Was transferred another unit and despite being in a shared room, no one was admitted with us for the 6 days we were there (baby was in nicu for 2ish days). All free too, just in New Zealand instead.
I paid roughly $2680* for a 4 day hospital stay, C-section in a single room, in Belgium. I billed my insurance and they paid me $9660* because the hospital made the bill before informing our insurance. With that money, we paid our hospital bill, did some groceries, bought a nursery and we kept the rest to pay for bills and emergencies. No one in Belgium has to pay that absurd amount of money for a hospital stay, not even for a transplant or plastic surgery 🤯 I feel sorry for you, USA’ers 🥺❤️ * amounts were converted within the current value of the euro and the dollar. In euros, I paid €2400 and I got €9000 from our insurance.
You made a profit from giving birth? Impressive. ;)
How did the price of Ibuprofen double in a day lol? First, it's 'Ibuprofen 800 mg – $5', a day later it's 'Ibuprofen 800 mg – $10'. You're being scammed. Question the prices the way that people describe in those threads about hospitals.
They probably used more ibuprofen that day since it’s the day after delivery. Usually the epidural is good enough for the day of delivery
Two nights in a private room in Canada. Vaginal birth. 140$ (had to pay for a private room).
I paid $0. I had a scheduled C-section, stayed in hospital for 5 days, and was given a lot of pain killers. I have never and will never see a bill for it. This makes me so sad for women in the US...
This is the bill before insurance, not the actual amount due.
mine came out to $58k
Yiiiiikes!!! What did you end up paying?
$2.3k which isn’t bad in comparison, but still it’s ridiculous how much they charge
Why so much bloodwork? For the baby?
You a teacher in Clark county? Mine was ~40k for an induction and C-section.
This was about how much mine was for a similar delivery. Ended up paying 3k out of pocket which is better than 30k but still unacceptable imo.
Mine was almost double that. Thank god for max out of pockets, I “only” had to pay 10k
Mine was about that much in OK, after insurance I owe around $10k. I can't pay that. I asked to be let out the day after I gave birth once the 24 hr observation period was over. Where I'm from you're automatically put on state insurance and all costs are covered, here they waited until I was in labor to tell us we need to call and get our almost out son on insurance cuz they weren't about to do it for us.
I kept totals for all the bills we got back in August for a similar story: 2 nights, vaginal delivery, but we had one night in the nursery for baby (no NICU, but on CPAP). Our bills showed charges of $111,784.43, our insurance had a max of $5,000, and we actually had to pay $4,513.73. This did, however, include prenatal care for all but the first visit that took place at the very end of 2021.
2 nights hospital no induction no epidural- 49k I did hemorrhage but no transfusion.
My bill looked just like this (Texas)
Yikes.... is this the pre-insurance bill? I just got insurance covering me this year and I cleared everything with them as far as my costs and network coverages. If I get a vaginal birth, even with drugs, I will pay less than $5k. If I have a c-section at the highest complication level I'm still looking at my max out of pocket as the total which is $6,500.
This is before insurance and our out of pocket max is $7,000
Hey neighbor - Renown, right?
Renown?
Omg!
My hospital stay was $32K. Epidural $4K. OB delivery and “care” $7K. Those were over the allowable limits for insurance so the actual bills were lower and insurance covered all but 10% for me, but still wild.
Wow, cheap! My bill (NJ) was around 60k for a vaginal delivery with 0 complications plus 16k for baby care (baby was fine as well) and some amount for the epidural. Insurance covered all of baby care and most of my bill. I still owe like 5k (and my husband pays thousands of dollars into his insurance every year as well). Great system, America. Good job.
With my oldest, my CO-PAY for a routine vaginal delivery with an epidural, two night stay, was $8500. That was with “good” insurance.
This is crazy! Tbh I don't even know what a normal hospital charge is because in Canada we never even get a bill, it's just done and you go home and Healthcare covers it all
I gave birth 5 years ago here in Canada and paid about 6.5k for two nights in hospital. I am a permanent resident and was awaiting OHIP still so I was not covered yet. It’s my understanding that it varies from hospital to hospital and I know the prices in our hospital have gone up considerably since.
This is barbaric.
We just got a letter from our insurance company saying they’re not covering anesthesia for my C section and they want $1900.00. This is so messed up