Lets talk money...

MsMae79

So we want to be prepared. We have health insurance BUT neither of our insurance is what I would call "AWESOME!". SO I ask this - is it not WAY cheaper to just have a midwife vs going to the DR / Clinic / Hospital? Now I have three children, my last was delivered all natural - no meds so that stuff doesn't scare me or stop me from wanting to have another natural birth. I will do it. Just curious about the cost side of it. 

kyrenora

It's less expensive, but there are a lot more considerations. I decided against home birthing for me because of the distance to the hospital if something were to go wrong, for example. 

bmo88

MsMae79: It really just depends on your insurance coverage and set up. For me, midwife and home delivery would cost more (about $3,000) compared to a hospital/OBGYN delivery ($2,100). That's because my insurance will cover midwifes, but not home delivery. So having a child at home would be out of pocket and it would not count toward my out of pocket max or deductible. 

The best thing to do is call your insurance provider and ask them to run a cost estimate analysis for both options.

izza2

bmo88 said:

MsMae79: It really just depends on your insurance coverage and set up. For me, midwife and home delivery would cost more (about $3,000) compared to a hospital/OBGYN delivery ($2,100). That's because my insurance will cover midwifes, but not home delivery. So having a child at home would be out of pocket and it would not count toward my out of pocket max or deductible. 

The best thing to do is call your insurance provider and ask them to run a cost estimate analysis for both options.

^^WSS

It entirely depends on your insurance, so it's something you'd have to call your insurance carrier to find out.

I'm not entirely sure on the difference for mine, but if I had to guess (because my insurance isn't super great either), I would think it would be more expensive for a home delivery versus a hospital delivery. I don't even remember any category pertaining to childbirth that didn't have to do with hospitalization, to be honest.

But, regardless, I wouldn't go with which cost less either way. I would go with which one I'm more comfortable with and which one will give me the birthing experience and results I'm looking for. Personally, at this point in time, I'd go for a hospital birth. Home births don't appeal because after this year, the closest hospital I'll have with a L&D unit will be 45+ minutes away. ERs can help if something goes wrong, but that's still 45+ minutes away, as the two ERs closest could help with a delivery gone wrong, but they aren't experienced and don't/won't have Obstetricians in the hospital to handle a delivery crisis.