Average Cost of normal Vaginal Delivery Before Insurance...

MrsRahl · May 2014

Hi ladies, this is my first baby, and I'm just trying to get an idea of what an average birth costs BEFORE your insurance kicks in. I'm trying to get a rough estimate of what my cost could be with my deductible and out of pocket based on what an average routine delivery costs. Any ideas STM's out there?

asm07 · May 2014

It might vary depending on who your doctor is and where you deliver, but I'm not sure. I delivered at Magee, and though I can't remember exact costs I think the total bill was close to $10,000. That was for a vaginal delivery with no induction/pain meds. After insurance we paid about $250. If you want more detailed costs, I can pull out the statements and take a look.

Allison7 · May 2014

I am not sure what the cost will be yet because I haven't delivered, but remember that all of your prenatal visits also go towards that deductible and max OOP. At this point, we have reached 2/3 of our deductible. We expect to either be into the max OOP or to have met the max OOP by the time of delivery, so the delivery cost won't really matter.

MrsRahl · May 2014

@asm07 and @allison7, how my insurance works is I have a $2,400 deductible, then my plan covers 90/10, but my 10% I have to pay max out of pocket can be up to another $2,000. I'm sure I'll meet my deductible, I was just trying to predict what the 10% I end up paying will be. I'm hoping not to end up with that full $4,400 to pay! But I don't think I will... hopefully...

asm07 · May 2014

Our insurance plan is similar, but our deductible and max out of pocket is a little less. You never know what might happen once you get to the hospital (I ended up having to stay 2 nights despite my super quick and easy delivery), but as long as you don't need a c-section or anything major I doubt you'll have to pay that full $4,400. Also, we weren't billed for any prenatal visits until after the delivery. It was included in the final bill as part of the total pregnancy/delivery expenses.

Allison7 · May 2014

MrsRahl said:

@asm07 and @allison7, how my insurance works is I have a $2,400 deductible, then my plan covers 90/10, but my 10% I have to pay max out of pocket can be up to another $2,000. I'm sure I'll meet my deductible, I was just trying to predict what the 10% I end up paying will be. I'm hoping not to end up with that full $4,400 to pay! But I don't think I will... hopefully...

So our plans are similar. My husband and I are on it together, so our deductible is $3000. Once it is met, they cover 90% and we cover 10% until our max OOP of $4000 is met. I don't know the exact number, but I know we are over $2000 into our deductible. When we got our BFP, we called the insurance and they said to plan on paying the max OOP this year. We adjusted our contribution into our medical spending account to accommodate this.

MrsRahl · May 2014

asm07 said:

Our insurance plan is similar, but our deductible and max out of pocket is a little less. You never know what might happen once you get to the hospital (I ended up having to stay 2 nights despite my super quick and easy delivery), but as long as you don't need a c-section or anything major I doubt you'll have to pay that full $4,400. Also, we weren't billed for any prenatal visits until after the delivery. It was included in the final bill as part of the total pregnancy/delivery expenses.

This will also be the case for me, meaning my doc isn't billing us until the end, so that will all go toward the deductible, and I have no idea what that amount will be. I'm sure we will enough fulfill the deductible and get into that 10% we will have to cover, I'm just hoping we won't reach that max OOP expense.

MrsRahl · May 2014

@allison7, we don't have a medical flex spend account. I'm unemployed and my husband just doesn't work for a company that offers that. Unfortunately we make just over the amount to get any gov assistance, but does anyone know about WIC and if you make too much to qualify for that?

asm07 · May 2014

It might be worth calling your insurance company; they might be able to help give you an idea of what to expect. I was shocked at how little we had to pay out of pocket. I don't have any information as far as WIC goes, but that's definitely something I'd call about too. They'll probably have you make an appointment and come in with pay stubs and/tax info to see if you qualify.

Allison7 · May 2014

I don't know about WIC, but I know that usually the hospital will work with you to set up a payment plan. The thing you need to keep in mind is that everyone will bill you separately. If your OB hasn't billed you at all yet, those bills whenever they do hit will be separate from your hospital bill. Also,you can get multiple bills for a single hospital visit. I had surgery a few years ago and I got a bill from the hospital, surgeon, anesthesiologist, etc. I thought it would be all on one bill, but it wasn't and it would have been good to know that when trying to see where I was deductible wise.

As to not having a flex spending account, that is fine - it really doesn't make that much of a difference in your taxable income, but you could begin preparing in the same way by setting aside a little bit each pay period. You might not be able to save your max OOP, but every little bit will help.

Finally, I don't know when you due date is, but the only reason that I could think of for your OB to hold off on billing would be because your baby is due in2015 and you are trying to get all of the bills on the same deductible period. (Of course, you may have a totally different reason that I am just not thinking of!) If that is the case, you need to talk with someone from your insurance - some insurance goes by bill date, but a lot of them go by date of service...so if you have all of it billed in 2015, but service happened in both 2014 and 2015 then you would be responsible for two deductibles anyway.

sy5temfire · May 2014

What happens if you are due in Jan and your limits reset in 2015? I don't want to call my ins company yet and tell them that I'm preg yet.

asm07 · May 2014

I had my baby in February, and we still weren't billed for everything (including dr visits from 2013) until after the baby was born. It's just how my doctors office does it, and the insurance company told me that was standard. Obviously, every plan is different. I didn't need to call my insurance company to tell them I was pregnant, but I did call to make sure I understood what out of pocket expenses I could expect.

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