- Pregnancy
- Baby & Toddler
- Parents
- Getting Pregnant
- Baby Names
- Product Reviews
-
Registry
- Community
-
More
Want a personalized experience?
Download the free app
March 2018 Moms
orbmaker
member
Payin' for It
orbmaker
member
I know there's been some money/insurance griping here and there (re: NIPT, for example), but I haven't seen a thread designated to financial concerns/troubleshooting. My first ultrasound bills and whatnot are starting to roll in, so $$$ has been on my mind. Here goes!
How are you managing your baby bills so far? What are you worried about? I imagine some of us have acquired insurance wisdom from previous pregnancies/infertility treatment. Please share!
How are you planning to pay for your hospital delivery, if you plan to have one? Do you know any strategies for reducing costs?
If you live in the US, aren't you frustrated with our healthcare system? :P
What about affording maternity clothes and baby stuff?
How are you managing your baby bills so far? What are you worried about? I imagine some of us have acquired insurance wisdom from previous pregnancies/infertility treatment. Please share!
How are you planning to pay for your hospital delivery, if you plan to have one? Do you know any strategies for reducing costs?
If you live in the US, aren't you frustrated with our healthcare system? :P
What about affording maternity clothes and baby stuff?
Re: Payin' for It
How are you managing your baby bills so far? What are you worried about? I imagine some of us have acquired insurance wisdom from previous pregnancies/infertility treatment. Please share!
![:\](https://forums.thebump.com/resources/emoji/confused.png ":\")
My insurance actually is billing everything at the end of my pregnancy - so prenatal, delivery and post partum care will all be billed about 2 weeks after baby is born. I am for sure going to hit my deductible of $2,000 so they're estimating it to be about $2,100 to have my little one. I have really good insurance through work and an HSA account that I can make monthly payments to my bill over 10 months.
How are you planning to pay for your hospital delivery, if you plan to have one? Do you know any strategies for reducing costs?
Like I said up above, everything is billed at the end. We have money put away in savings, too, just in case of emergency purposes. My husband and I just paid off all of our credit cards last week so we aren't spending extra money each month towards CC payments. We have been able to save way more since eliminating that debt. We also will cut back on our gym memberships post partum and about 2 months before giving birth just to relax and save up some extra cash. My sister cancelled their TV/cable and they just use Netflix or Hulu now which is way cheaper than cable. We may do that, too.
If you live in the US, aren't you frustrated with our healthcare system?
I don't really know enough about the system to answer this adequately.
What about affording maternity clothes and baby stuff?
I have a baby consignment shop right down the block from where I work. I got 3 pairs of maternity pants for $24!! I also have always bought my tops a bit bigger, like a L or XL depending where it's from, even though I always wore a medium. So I lucked out with my tops fitting for the most part. If I have spare cash here and there and I see a good deal on baby things, I will buy it for myself. Otherwise, we're waiting for our baby shower and to see what we get help with on our registry. We also asked for lots of gift cards that way we can buy what we NEED and not have to worry about returning things we don't need or use.
Hope this helps!
How are you managing your baby bills so far? I elected to put $1600 in my FSA for this year, thinking that would cover most of my bills and delivery after we conceived immediately in January
I'm trying to figure out if I'll get billed for two US if they aren't able to visualize everything on my anatomy scan scheduled when I'm 18 wk, 0 days. If yes, I'll reschedule that a bit later for better odds.
How are you planning to pay for your hospital delivery, if you plan to have one? I just asked my insurance company's website to estimate a normal vaginal delivery at the hospital we're planning to use and it told me $2400. What the what??? A brief google search revealed that a natural/low-intervention birth (if possible) can reduce costs (ie, no epidural), which is cool since I'm planning for that. Google also recommended bringing your own toiletries...
I'm wondering if any second (or third or fourth) time mamas have any experience advocating for themselves to reduce cost of delivery?
If you live in the US, aren't you frustrated with our healthcare system? YES!! Making babies is important! We shouldn't go into debt over it!
What about affording maternity clothes and baby stuff? Have not bought maternity clothes yet. I shop mostly vintage/second hand, and occasionally acquire something high-quality (and ethically made) that I think I'll like for a loooooong time. Pregnancy clothes don't easily fit into this equation... so I've been putting it off and wearing stretchy things.
I've actually been buying (gender-neutralish) quality baby clothes at thrift shops since we started trying in January and have a pretty big stash! I'm trying to source second-hand furniture and whatnot, somewhat successfully thus far...
And we plan on cloth-diapering.
I wish we were finished with our credit card debt by now, but it's unfortunately going to take a little longer. We're aiming for before baby is born.
ETA I'm going to try to find a baby consignment store!
@bettyvonsomethingstein Amen! I feel especially frustrated since I'll be delivering in the same hospital system where I work as an RN and my bills still suck!
I'm a teacher, so I technically work for the state but I have the most miserable insurance even though I'm paying extra for the highest tier available. Giving birth at the hospital alone, not including any appointments or bloodwork, will likely run me 3,000 - 3,500.
Good thing I'm paid so much.
Oh wait.
I found a couple resources online like this one: https://www.livingwellspendingless.com/2016/02/08/cut-cost-baby/
and was surprised to learn that forgoing epidural, for example, can reduce your delivery bill by $1000. Not sure if that appeals to you or not...
Another interesting possibility I learned about is potentially reducing cost by prepaying all or some of delivery before you're 8 months. I'll be looking into this.
but, yes, anti-women, anti-"pink-collar job" policies/salaries/practices really piss me off.
The one thing that did surprise me when my son was born (although it was a different but similar insurance) is that everything at the hospital, except my son's hearing test, was in network. For whatever reason, the hearing test was out of network so ended up being essentially not covered since we didn't meet our out of network deductible. I called the company and complained since I had no way of knowing they were out of network (the hospital was in network!), and they gave me a small (but better than nothing) discount. So, that's worth a shot for any surprise bills. Also, for some reason my insurance company flagged the pediatrician exam as out of network when they weren't, so calling them fixed that.
My biggest frustration? It's nearly impossible to figure out the cost of medical procedures before they actually happen. I was trying to see how much NIPT would cost and I still have no clue.
For other baby costs - I have maternity clothes from my last pregnancy and only need a few specific things due to difference in jobs and dress code. But, suggestion here is you can get some free/cheap from friends/neighbors who were pregnant. The clothing runs in XS, S, M, L, XL etc and is more forgiving in fit generally. I was able to comfortably wear pants from a friend who is easily 1-2 sizes smaller than me. I bought a lot of gender neutral baby clothes, and if I have a girl I really don't care if she wears my son's blue stuff (especially at home). We do need some bigger things like furniture for another baby room, but all of that is on my private registry to take advantage of the registry discounted.
Pregnant with #2:
My husbands paternity leave was only 3 weeks; I could still barely walk straight at 3 weeks. Having someone there to help another week or two would have been wonderful.
As far as baby costs go, we're already stocking up on diapers/wipes/bath supplies. My mother has us MORE than covered in clothes, especially if this one is a girl since they'll also get hand me downs from my daughter. When she was born we set up a savings account that we put between $10-$20 in a month. If something comes up and we don't have the money to pay for something my daughter needs, that money is there, otherwise, she'll get a nice large savings account when she turns 18. Her college will also be paid for so that will be nice for her. With this baby we plan on setting up the savings account and aiming for $20-$30 in it each month, since their college won't be paid for so they'll need a little more money when they're 18. We always joke that our kids are better off than we are since 90% of the time they have more money in savings than we do.
To make you all feel better I work for a major health insurance company, with the best insurance they offer, and estimated vaginal delivery will be about $5000 out of pocket
Edit, clarified
@kfrob that sucks!!! I'm getting particularly pissed off at our stupid, wasteful, amoral system today (and those who'd love to make it even worse).
How are you planning to pay for your hospital delivery, if you plan to have one? I'm planning on paying using money from my FSA account, I'll only have to pay my deductible.
If you live in the US, aren't you frustrated with our healthcare system? I'm frustrated that healthcare can differ so vastly from person to person. My fiance's healthcare is mediocre at best, mine is great, but it shouldn't be that way. Everyone should have access to the same level of care without paying extreme amounts of money for it....
What about affording maternity clothes and baby stuff? I'm setting aside about 100$ a paycheck to afford maternity clothes and baby stuff. I try my best to find sales when I do spend that money.
**TW in Spoiler**
BFP 6/30/16, MC 8/21/16
BFP 05/04/17, 5/10/17 Emergency LAP due to ectopic. Right tube removed.
BFP 07/12/17, ECDD 03/25/18 - Silver Orion Born 3/23/18
BFP 09/30/19, EDD 06/11/20
How are you planning to pay for your hospital delivery, if you plan to have one? I've been saving for it with my HSA account.
If you live in the US, aren't you frustrated with our healthcare system? Meh.
What about affording maternity clothes and baby stuff? This is my 3rd kid, so I won't be buying much of anything. I may have to buy my middle child new furniture but we've got a few months to figure that out.
@orbmaker - honestly I will just end up paying the deductible and that's it. The rest will be covered by insurance. I have Blue Cross Blue Shield. Give your insurance company and call and have them give you an estimate on what it'll all cost. That's what I did and boy was it a relief! I was worried it would literally cost an arm and a leg or as @HappyMonkey817 said, sell an organ or my soul, lol.
Does your hospital you plan to deliver at give you the option to make monthly payments?
I work in the medical profession, so I'm pretty familiar with the insanity of people getting billed, say, $1300 for getting some IV fluids at the ER and meanwhile me, the nurse getting paid $32/hr, will require approximately 5 minutes to place a catheter and hang that bag of salt water.
In the end I called the midwife practice, and they told me someone will be in the office tomorrow who is knowledgeable about things financial. So maybe I'll make some headway there.
I'm just frustrated cos I'm stuck with probably $1000 extra FSA dollars "this year" that I likely won't be able to apply to my delivery next year (they don't roll over, and I lose the money... that I took out of my paycheck... if I don't spend it on medical supplies), and I don't want to be in the same position of taking too much out again.
Sorry I keep ranting today y'all.
ETA: @antoto I think the hospital will offer a monthly payment plan, or else potentially a 10% discount for paying all at once. Our ability to comfortably pay for those installments and/or significant FSA contribution on top of the (still pricey) insurance premiums and my student loan bills while my income is reduced by 50% (which of course I'm lucky to have!) on maternity leave is another question!
Just for background: I quit my job as a legal assistant in May to start my own freelance business as a graphic designer. It's what I went to school for and is something I'm good at, so that isn't scary, what's scary is I have no clients to start with. I'm basically starting over and creating personal projects so I have new work to attract clients and also trying to figure out my niche/style. My DH is supportive of this and we both think it will be successful, it just sucks that it will take time to establish myself and get clients and get income. Like I expect 6 months to a year would be a reasonable expectation. It's scary not having income but it's worth it since I always hated the other jobs I had (retail manager before legal assistant), but I did cushion our savings account before I quit. Plus I don't have to worry about maternity leave or flexibility - I am my own boss. On the bright side, we do have some savings and DH has a full-time job as a manager at a restaurant and keeps getting promoted so that's good at least. And I'm finally doing what I'm good at and what makes me happy. The money will come I think.
How are you managing your baby bills so far? So far we haven't really had any baby bills. We are going to a family clinic that is kind of in the 'hood. Like literally the nurse laughed and said she we are the first patients she's seen to have private insurance, everyone here is on medicaid.
How are you planning to pay for your hospital delivery, if you plan to have one? I have money in my HSA from my previous job. I think there should be enough to cover it (about $2500). Also I'm hoping since we are going to a clinic and have a doctor that is usually for poor people, that those charges will be in line with what we're paying so far (minimal at least, I don't expect it to be nothing). The hospital does have a nice women's center though so at least that part will be nice.
If you live in the US, aren't you frustrated with our healthcare system? Are you kidding me? We have literally looked into moving to other countries multiple times and only haven't because we decided the cost of moving would be too high and also the places we looked into have higher real estate costs. But yeah, the US is embarrassingly terrible. It makes me sooooo mad to even think about.
What about affording maternity clothes and baby stuff? So far I've bought only a few clearance things from Old Navy for maternity wear. We did order a kind of expensive bassinet thing but DH and I both really loved it more than anything else. I plan to shop at IKEA for other stuff and use coupons on things like a car seat. Also I am so down with second hand things. I also live in a small house so we are trying to get as few things as possible, only essentials. One thing that is baby related that I'm worried about is getting a new (or used) van or SUV. That is gonna be a big purchase we wouldn't be making if not for starting a family. At least we don't have credit card debt and my student loans are finished and our current cars are paid off, but we still have DH's student loans, the mortgage, and we want to do some renovations before baby to make the house function better.
eta: @orbmaker thank you for that cost saving link! I read it and bookmarked it.
Also good lord don't get me started on a) our country's healthcare system and b) maternity leave policies. It's criminal. People shouldn't go bankrupt having a child, or getting cancer treatments. It's insane.
Sincerely,
A Canadian mom who unfortunately had to have an induction, morphine, epidural, and c-section ... and didn't think twice about how much $ it would cost.
At the same time, I think it's kind of unbelievable that my insurance company is telling me I'll owe the same (my max out of pocket) whether I were to deliver naturally or have a c-section (which I really really really hope to avoid)! This sort of thing, I think, in part, makes us culturally blind to the kind of (often) unnecessary expensive medical procedures that drive up healthcare costs astronomically in our country (not that I think people should pay out the wazoo if they require a c-section, it's just that they get done far too often).
I was trying clumsily to make a point about how us Americans are blind to the cost of healthcare, and in fact often prevented from knowing it at all. The quagmire of private insurance companies/ hospital systems run the show, the pricing, while we all are helpless to know or do anything about it. In a single-payer system, the government has power to negotiate and regulate costs to keep things sustainable and fair, instead of profit-driven to benefit the few.
Meanwhile, 32% of births are c-sections in the states (looks like 26% in Canada), whereas the WHO reports they are medically necessary 5-15% of the time. I think for a multitude of reasons, OBs are more and more likely to default to induction and/or c-section (maybe even subconsciously or out of habit and/or time crunch). I think this is a concern that needs to be addressed systemically and again I want to emphasize that I DONT think that responsibility should fall on birthing women to try and wrestle with those decisions in the moment or afterwards. It just becomes impossible for these things to be systemically addressed when all of it is occurring behind smoke and mirrors.
Our tax money could and should be used more effectively to benefit all!
again, so sorry, I truly did not mean to offend.
For those of us in the US who have to buy insurance, if you have the option for a Healthcare Spending Account, keep in mind once the plan starts you'll have access to you're entire goal amount to pay for eligible expenses incurred while on the plan even if you haven't contributed nearly that much yet. And if you end up leaving the company before you finish your contributions for the plan, you don't have to pay the money back (the positive side of 'use it or lose it').
In the US, C-sections definitely cost more than vaginal deliveries, however because of your out of pocket maximum, they may end up costing the same to you (but you'll certainly see the full price prior to insurance paying when you see the estimation of benefits from the insurance company.
During my first delivery / hospital stay, I had no idea every single thing was costing money. You need some more giant-ass pads? Sure, and you'll see it on your bill / estimation of benefits. More mesh underwear, ready for your next pain pill? Sure, and it'll be added to the bill. For me it was my first hospital stay, so I didn't realize and no one presents anything to you as if there's an extra cost. So while I know I wouldn't be in the frame of mind of trying to save money while in delivery, post-delivery you may want to be mindful of the 'extra' stuff the nurses provide/offer (with the exception of pain meds...not skimping on those (I ended up having to have a C-section)).
I'm so curious about what incidentals my patients in the ED get charged for... it's something that we as nurses are really not informed about, to be perfectly honest. I don't think twice about offering women having miscarriages peripads, for example, but I don't have to "tell the man" that I gave them out either. It makes me wonder if billing just assumes these things happen during routine hospital visits (like childbirth) and that one is likely to get charged whether they decline or not.
@sarah_haha760 I'm similarly frustrated. The doctor who's offering the tests, unfortunately, won't know much in that moment what they are going to cost YOU, since plans vary so much from person to person. And my midwife was telling me that they are basically legally obligated to offer them (and discuss the risks/benefits so you can together make an informed decision).
@mountain_girl phew! Just out of curiosity, I tried to do some research on costs per delivery in Canada vs. US and found numbers like $3-5,000 for vaginal delivery and $8-10,000 for c-section in Canada vs. $8-30,000 for vaginal delivery and $15-50,000 for c-sections in the states. Insane, right? Same care!
The fact that these costs and the patient's responsibility vary so much from state to state and plan to plan is just mind-blowing. Again, I literally work in the hospital that I will deliver in and they're still telling me I should expect to owe $3,000 for uncomplicated delivery alone – the same amount I would personally owe if I spent two months that year in the ICU, for example. And this is after paying $4,000 in premiums every year. This is a HUGE hospital system that employs thousands of people. I just think it's pretty gross that even a (theoretical) uncomplicated, midwife-attended birth with little-to-no intervention should cost so much (me literally, and us collectively because the more "expensive" these procedures become, the higher our premiums will get)!
@orbmaker - wow I'm sorry
Do you know how your hospital plans to bill it all? Did you say they would bill as you go or all at the end? I wonder if that does make a huge difference?
The midwife fees are covered by insurance, the same way a doctor would be (they're essentially nurse practitioners). A doula would typically not be covered. I know sometimes they volunteer at the hospital, or you can hire one. I think their services cost about $1000 on average.