Natural Birth Hospital bill

gblake · October 2012

DH and I are Americans living in Australia. We had DS2 on August 18th and it was a natural med free birth. We received our bill today. DH's insurance picked up everything but the phone calls which were $9.35. Our final bill was $3,874.00 (again all picked up by our insurance). Can anyone share what their bill looked like after having a med-free birth in the states? We are thinking about number #3 and we may be back in the states for that one. I'm just curious to know what the comparison would be.

If anyone is curious we were billed for the following; Private Room Surcharge 3 day $141.00, Single Room Private Ensuite 2 day $1790.00, DRG Theatre Fee $1943.00. And our doctors bill (not included in this) was $1700.00.

AmyRI · October 2012

Med-free delivery followed by standard 2 night hospital stay.

Hospital's bill (split about 50/50 for delivery/recovery) $10,283. Insurance paid out $6,613.

OB/GYN: Billed $3570, paid $2263.

I have AMAZING health insurance with no deductible or coinsurance and only a copay for delivery, so we paid $150 total. Most insurance plans do NOT provide coverage this good.

aylafsu88 · October 2012

Our bill was ~5,900 for a natural intervention free delivery with a 2 night hospital stay. They did not give us the breakdown on the bill, so I cannot help you there. We have awesome insurance so we only paid our 250$ deductible.

NoeliaV · October 2012

On our insurer's site, they project a vaginal birth at our hospital (no idea if that includes a "standard" epi or what) from $7K to $9K, with an average around $8K.

We're budgeting for 20% of the $8K (as we've already met our deductible), and if it comes in under that, then great!

Vaginal birth here includes a 2 night stay in the facility.

ETA: Our OB/MW global fees were projected at a bit more than $2K, and we ended up paying around $830. That was due at 28weeks.

mrsodonnell12 · October 2012

My bill was closer to 15k with DS - but was also in the NICU for 2 days one night and had a minor surgery.

Nechie122 · October 2012

This is going to depend a lot on your insurance. As you probably know, no one in the States pays the wholesale price on their bill; insurance companies negotiate a discount with their in network hospitals and that's what they actually pay. What's passed along to the patient depends on the copay and deductible. It could range from a few hundred to a few thousand.

robyn2201 · October 2012

Med free birth, 1 night stay:

Hospital Billed: $9,997.25, Insurance Negiotated Rate: $1,887.76

OB Billed globally: $3031.00, Insurance Negotiated Rate: $2520.00

We have a deductible and then a owe 20% for anything over that. We ended up paying total for the birth itself, $902.67 and insurance paid: $3571.04. But this all was dependant on what other medical services we had during the year for myself and Dh. It doesn't include lab fees and the 2 vists that insurance paid when I was referred to the Peri to have something checked out.

jteneback · October 2012

My bill (not including DD's NICU stay) was $9k. OB billed $1k for presence at delivery and my midwife's "global services fee" for the whole pregnancy including delivery was about $5k.

LaurelBee · October 2012

I don't know exact numbers, but my bill was approximately $8,000 for a 2 night stay. I paid zero out of pocket except Ds's circ since it was not a necessary surgery.

poison489 · October 2012

I haven't had my baby yet, but I would bet that going through a birth center would be cheaper than a hospital natural birth if you do not have insurance. I was looking in to them earlier in my pregnancy and would have been able to have a birth center birth for $4000 with a water birth if I wanted. Unfortunately we could not afford that out of pocket and are going with the hospital that is covered by our insurance.

Mrs E in Oregon · October 2012

My sisters was $10k out of pocket because they didn't have insurance at the time. This included 1 night stay. She may have had an epi, but I don't think so, that little girl popped right out.

jellybeanjean · October 2012

Wow, mine is insane. We're in a fairly HCOL area -- mine for DS2 was around $22k for both of us (3hr labor, no meds, no NICU eval/stay). With DS1 (including epidural), it was like $16k. Couldn't believe it went up that much...and no anesthesia the second time around. Insane.

Have no idea how much the insurance actually paid; maybe I should look into that. We have good insurance, though, and only paid the $15 co-pay for the first prenatal visit.

RockyMtnMama · October 2012

With my first, the charged rate for a natural hospital birth (no epi, midwife attending, no pain meds, etc.) was $9k, but my insurance negotiated down to $3500, of which I paid $1800 (my deductible) + 20% of the remaining so around $2200. Then my midwife charged a global maternity/delivery charge of around $3k, so I paid 20% of that ($600). Plus, the baby was charged seperately than me for a deductible, so I paid all $700 of his hospital charges (roomed-in, no visits to nursery, only regular vaccinations). Total I paid just under $3500 for a fully covered hospital birth (with a high deductible of $1800 and 80/20 pay plan after that).

Total the bills were $3500 for hospital, $3000 for midwife prenatal/labor, and $700 for hospital for my son. So the total would was around $7k for prenatal/labor/delivery for a nautral hospital birth was charged to my insurance. This was 6 years ago (have had my last two kids out of the hospital).

chronoptomist · October 2012

Our midwife is $3900 total. I'm not sure if insurance is going to cover it or not. We're getting conflicting information. We'll submit at the end though and cross our fingers. I've also read through the detailed EOB and have a good argument for it being covered. (thank goodness for being in HR)

L0L0 · October 2012

$14,000 for water birth with a midwife and a two night stay. I remember the pool liner was almost $400. Health care pricing is such a joke, who knows what money really changed hands.

nosoup4u · October 2012

I spent two nights in the hospital after having DS2, and it was about $4-5,000 or so.

RMama2012 · October 2012

$16,000 which didn't include the OB's fees or lo's pediatrician fees. I was in the hospital for 2 nights and had an uncomplicated vag unmedicated birth. I paid a $250 copay which is our insurance's standard overnight co pay for the hospital.

pc150805 · October 2012

I didn't pay a dime. C was in the NICU and then transferred to Children's Hospital so we had bills from that but we didn't pay anything for my care. Our insurance took care of everything and I never did see a bill. I was in the hospital from 6:00pm on Sunday -11:00am on Monday so I wasn't there long.

Mrs.Syntax · October 2012

With DD1 the total was around $6,000 which we paid because our deductible was higher than that. That included the insurance-negotiated pricing structure.

Now we have even worse insurance, thanks to DH owning his own business. I have no maternity coverage at all and I looked into costs when we TTC #2. Our best estimate is $17,000. We do get a 20% discount for not having insurance coverage, and another 20% off if we pay the bill within 30 days, so at least we don't have to pay "full" retail price.

stepper1725 · October 2012

My almost 100% med-free hospital birth (one shot of pitocin to deliver placenta) & one night hospital stay was about $5800 total. Our insurance covered all of it and all of my prenatal care with no copays or deductibles. I had to pay $9 for a lab test that was not fully covered in my second trimester, that was it.

JuneBug86 · October 2012

Wow!

I am so glad I live in Canada. It amazes me that people have to pay for medical services. It's just so odd to me.

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