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no maternity coverage...how much for prenatal-delivery...ect
I don't have maternity coverage and I've been told by many insurance agents that it's cheaper to negotiate with the doc and hospital than to add the maternity coverage and wait and wait...(we're self employed).
Was wondering approx how much to expect...I also have to have a c section. Thanks
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Re: no maternity coverage...how much for prenatal-delivery...ect
We didn't have maternity coverage when DD was born. We went to a doctor's office that was a resident program. My doctor was a resident and we had him for 3 years (he was the best doctor eva...we miss him!) We paid $500 up front for all of my exams. That did not include sonograms.
I was in the hospital for 5 days (had complications) and had a vag. delivery. My bill was around $25K. DD had to have several tests when she was born and stay 2 days. Her bill was around $20K. Almost all of that was written off by the hospital and doctor's office. I don't remember what we ended up paying, but it was next to nothing.
We have excellent insurance now, but I know it will cost us a lot more to have another kid than it did DD!
Are you talking about just what you will pay to your OB or does this also include the hospital stay?
For a c-section birth, the OB will probably be about $2-$3K (this includes all the office visits, but not bloodwork).
The hospital stay could run from $15K-millions depending on a lot of factors.
We do have insurance but we have a ridiculous deductible. Still, these are the negotiated rates with my insurance company if that makes sense. I think the official costs are higher. My CNM's office will charge us about $3000 or a little more including all office visits, ultrasounds, etc. The hospital bills will probably be around $6-10K for a vaginal birth and one night in the hospital for DS and I. I think that includes an epi since I had epis with both the girls so it might be closer to $6K this time b/c I'm hoping not to get one. I was in the hospital less than 48 hours (two nights - one in labor) and the girls were there about 24 hours.
That said, if DS is born early (which we expect), he may need some time in the nursery/NICU, which, of course, will make those costs skyrocket. At one point, they were talking about keeping me from last Wednesday through whenever DS was born (or at least until they could get my contractions to stop). I can't imagine how much that would have cost but I know every night at the hospital is ridiculous without adding in the cost of the meds they were giving me and whatnot. I would be nervous about something like that. Even if the costs should be lower than adding the maternity coverage, what if something happens and you or your DC need more help - PTL, etc. If that happens, you're screwed without coverage. Now, hospitals (and sometimes doctor's offices) are great about negotiating payment schedules and such. They won't charge you any interest or hurt your credit as long as you set up a payment plan with them and pay on time even if it's only a little bit every month. We've worked it out to pay off our deductible over the year when we needed to and it wasn't a problem. We always promise to pay a lot less than we intend to so if we have a rough month, we can still at least pay the minimum.
If you can swing it to pay upfront you can save a ton, like 30-40%. My MW fee is 2300 and because I payed the first week, she only charged me 1400. The cost for the baby was about 1000 and for me I paid about 1800 without an epidural and just one night stay. I have no idea on a C section.
Good luck.
#1 ended up being a c-section, so it was about $50K; #2 was a repeat C, but with complications putting me in the OR twice, so it was over $100K. I've heard you can negotiate deals, but look into your state's assistance. In CA we have a medi-cal program for mothers and infants.
all visits plus c-section for DD were around 32k billed to insurance.
about the same for DS, but add a 9 day NICU stay to it put us over 100k for the total billed to insurance.
I had gest. diabetes with both so I had extra monitoring at the end - weekly nst and u/s appointments.
I just received a statement from our insurance company that showed all of our medical expenses for the year. For everything it was $18,300. It included:
9 months prenatal care plus OB fees for L&D
all lab work and prenatal testing (included NT scan and 2 U/S's)
48 hour hospital stay for me
48 hour hospital stay for DS
anesthesiologist (for the epidural)
newborn labwork and testing
DS's circumsision
6 week PP checkup