@UptownPearl I don't know where you are located but a girl friend of mine just had a totally natural water birth at a hospital here in Atlanta. I would look into hospitals and what their policies are about natural birthing plans . My sister in Connecticut also used a birthing stool at a hospital, so some hospitals are more willing than others to let you have your birth. Then at least you would have a better idea of what kind of birth local hospitals would let you have. Good luck, sorry your original plan is not in network anymore!
Military here too. No hospital (or even a med centre) on our base so I see an OB off base. We're covered for all the prenatal, L&D and postpartum care we will need, just have to be careful they don't push voluntary things on us that we'd have to pay for.
I had no idea babies could cost so much even with insurance, I'm from the UK originally. Long live the NHS and free healthcare!
I upgraded my insurance when we decided to start trying to conceive. I have a $100 copay for labor and delivery after I meet my deductible, which is $250. Since I'm assuming I'll be deliveringin January, I will most likely have the pay the full deductible, so I'll be looking at $350.
My deductible is $3500 and resets January 1. I figure I'll use it all up this year and since I'm not due until Jan 4, probably next year too. I'm grateful that I have enough money into HSA to cover this year and most of next, but then I'll be starting the account from scratch.... I'll have to up my contribution for a bit to get caught up
Dont forget that your baby is also counted as an individual on your insurance. So any specialized care they need or if they have an extended stay you will most likley need to pay their deductible also. We have a max OOP spending on our policy which was just about the same as both of our deductibles put together. My son had a long NICU stay so we had to pay my deductible and his as well.
If you have a flexible spending program through your employer I'd recommend looking into that, particularly for those due near the end of the month or with scheduled c-sections. Also, most hospitals will let you work out a payment plan that can be very reasonable. So yes, there can be sticker shock but there are ways of making it managable.
Back when I didn't have insurance I racked up a 4k bill from one emergency room visit for an asthma attack. I paid them $25 a month for a loooonnnggggg time. No matter what they will usually work it out.
My deductible is $1175 so I will have to pay that since my plan year starts over in November and I don't anticipate any costs before delivery that will eat away at my deductible. But we have Aflac maternity coverage and I will get $2600 from that, which more than covers my out of pockets costs.
Chiming in again...I tracked the cost of having DS from start to post-partum care. It was over $20,000. That's what my insurance and I paid, not what was billed (which is usually higher then shows the adjustments for negotiated rates). I had a pretty standard pregnancy and delivery with no complications. My sister's was high-risk and my nephew was in NICU for 5 days. She stopped tracking at $75,000. So I'll take my $3k contribution with no complaints!
The cost of care in the States is outrageous. I'm seriously amazed that so many women have little or nothing to pay. Very lucky!
We're using a home birth midwife, and her services (with standard prenatal appts every 4 weeks/2weeks/1week as you get closer) and the delivery will be $3,400. I cannot get a straight answer from our insurance if they will cover these costs, if they do it will be a $50 copay and that's it. If not, we'll be paying most or all of it ourselves, which is worth it for the experience we want. If we end up needing to transfer to a hospital it will be the $50 copay then I think we pay 10% of whatever the final bill is. The ultrasound facility our midwife uses isn't in network, but we wanted to use it anyways, so our anatomy ultrasound will be $250.
Wow. Reading everyone's costs of insurance made me so grateful for my husbands insurance. Not trying to be smug,
just grateful I married a teamster. I only pay $10 copays for office visits...and that's it. I'm covered for the entire birth. I make about double what he makes for take home pay, but it's all about those medical and dental benifits. Hopefully those w/out good insurance can
My insurance sends us a letter each time we use it...for instance, it will show what my doctor's visit was supposed to cost ($450 for a quick 30 minute prenatal checkup), what insurance negotiated it down to (about half that), what insurance paid (in this case, all), and what is left for me to pay (never more than a small copay, if anything).
I am consistently SHOCKED about how much the visit would have cost me out of pocket without insurance, it really is criminal. And the fact that I pay none of it because my husband has a good job with great benefits (we don't pay a cent for insurance, work pays 100% for both of us) is crazy, since we CAN afford the out of pocket should we NEED to pay it, but somebody who can't afford insurance surely can't pay the out of pocket! It's seriously messed up.
You ladies have been awesome with all your feedback. It's crazy how much health care costs differentiates between plans, countries, and providers!
I do really want to stay with my birthing center, so I'm going to look into the suggestions about seeing if we can get the cost to us reduced. As another PP said, even if I can't get it reduced at least I will have met my deductible for the year so my health costs will be completely covered for the rest of 2016.
I'm so sorry I can't remember who asked me this earlier, otherwise I would tag you, but yes, the birthing center does do payment plans with lots of options. They told me the first day that caring for me and baby is priority, not the financial aspects, and they work with their patients on that any way they can.
We are paying $3000 plus $450 for circumcision. My last baby was $4000 for me and $2000 for baby (we had a short nicu stay). I cry thinking about it but that's what payment plans are for. Sad thing is I work for the hospital where I will deliver.
Here in Canada we pay nothing. Unless you want a private or semi private room after delivery, then most insurance companies cover that based on working. I think you should be looking around for other insurance places.
The "amount" the hospital or doctor bills the insurance company is not what the insurance company pays because they have cost agreements in place so don't go by that. If you are self pay, ask the hospital what the cost is for self pay because it will be different.
DH finally talked to HR this week and apparently our insurance (free for both of us from his employer) will cover the full cost of pregnancy and childbirth as long as we stay in network (my OB is). Now if only they gave any paid paternity leave...
I live in Massachusetts and have the state run insurance called MassHealth now, which a lot of women are eligible for if you are pregnant but just don't know it. I had another insurance plan through health connector but switched over because I was eligible. I'm sorry if this sounds like a bragging post but I really want other moms-to-be to know about it if you live in Mass.
There are some copays with MassHealth but if you get on the pregnancy plan absolutely all visits, delivery, and even dental are free with no copays or even monthly costs. Granted it only lasts until 2-3 months after birth and then we need to go back on a new plan, but I keep being amazed at how painless financially this is all going to be. The school of thought is that pregnancy is already stressful and you shouldn't be worrying about the finances, or not get the right care because you're worried how much it will cost. I'm so glad my insurance recommended switching to them during pregnancy (probably because they didn't want to pay for it of course).
The hospital I am choosing has lots of options. You can basically give birth how you want. More natural options and you can work with a midwife too if that's who you choose as your care provider. Maybe there's a hospital near you that has more options than basic L&D rooms
For my c-section my insurance covers 90% so it will be $645 for prenatal care at my ob, the c-section, and post baby care. I think we might have to pay the hospital copay also but I'm not certain.
Mine is going to be around $1500. With my first, due to complications, emergency C section and newborn care, it was almost $3k. I made payments for 2 years. Pay what you can, if needed, and don't sweat it.
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Most l&d without insurance can cost between 5000 and 6000. With my insurance I have a $2000 deductible where they will pay 80% with a max of $3000 out of pocket. It's crazy but I would have had to pay closer to $5000 if I had chosen a birth center which is what led me to choose a hospital birth. Either way the baby will get born. There was a question about continuity of care. I believe the previous insurance only had to cover you for a month after you no longer carry them. So if this had happened at like 9 months pregnant then that would apply but I don't think that will apply here.
I have the crappiest insurance. (Public school system on Florida.) My deductible is 4500, and then only 70% coverage after that. I have already almost met that deductible after 3 ultrasounds and 3 rounds of blood work! (Remind me to buy stock in Labcorps!) In addition to that, I'm making 5 payments of $650 to doctor to cover the cost of labor and delivery. I get so stressed out by these things that I can't think clearly about them. All said and done, I'm looking at around $8k.
My prenatal copay is $50; all labs covered 100%, but i will have daily hospital copay with a max of $1000 basically that covers the four days of the hospital. Total $1050.
Re: Cost of birth? Freaking out right now
Low progesterone
Baby boy born 01/2016
Currently: NTNP
and resets January 1. I figure I'll use it all up this year and since I'm not due until Jan 4, probably next year too. I'm grateful that I have enough money into HSA to cover this year and most of next, but then I'll be starting the account from scratch.... I'll have to up my contribution for a bit to get caught up
If you have a flexible spending program through your employer I'd recommend looking into that, particularly for those due near the end of the month or with scheduled c-sections. Also, most hospitals will let you work out a payment plan that can be very reasonable. So yes, there can be sticker shock but there are ways of making it managable.
The cost of care in the States is outrageous. I'm seriously amazed that so many women have little or nothing to pay. Very lucky!
DD 12/20/99, DS 12/14/12, M/C 9/2014, M/C 1/2015
We're using a home birth midwife, and her services (with standard prenatal appts every 4 weeks/2weeks/1week as you get closer) and the delivery will be $3,400. I cannot get a straight answer from our insurance if they will cover these costs, if they do it will be a $50 copay and that's it. If not, we'll be paying most or all of it ourselves, which is worth it for the experience we want. If we end up needing to transfer to a hospital it will be the $50 copay then I think we pay 10% of whatever the final bill is. The ultrasound facility our midwife uses isn't in network, but we wanted to use it anyways, so our anatomy ultrasound will be $250.
I do really want to stay with my birthing center, so I'm going to look into the suggestions about seeing if we can get the cost to us reduced. As another PP said, even if I can't get it reduced at least I will have met my deductible for the year so my health costs will be completely covered for the rest of 2016.
I'm so sorry I can't remember who asked me this earlier, otherwise I would tag you, but yes, the birthing center does do payment plans with lots of options. They told me the first day that caring for me and baby is priority, not the financial aspects, and they work with their patients on that any way they can.
There are some copays with MassHealth but if you get on the pregnancy plan absolutely all visits, delivery, and even dental are free with no copays or even monthly costs. Granted it only lasts until 2-3 months after birth and then we need to go back on a new plan, but I keep being amazed at how painless financially this is all going to be. The school of thought is that pregnancy is already stressful and you shouldn't be worrying about the finances, or not get the right care because you're worried how much it will cost. I'm so glad my insurance recommended switching to them during pregnancy (probably because they didn't want to pay for it of course).
There was a question about continuity of care. I believe the previous insurance only had to cover you for a month after you no longer carry them. So if this had happened at like 9 months pregnant then that would apply but I don't think that will apply here.