Delivery Fees

nlane0723 · April 2016

This might be better suited for STM+ moms, but I'm curious about delivery fees when you have an unscheduled c-section, and delivery fees in general. Obviously if you aren't comfortable sharing, don't feel obligated since this is semi-personal. I received my packet at my OB appointment a couple weeks ago. I asked what happens if I end up needed a c-section and the benefits coordinator didn't know, but anticipated that I would have to pay the difference at the 8-week checkup. So, those who had unscheduled c-sections, how does that work?

Was anyone shocked (pleasantly or not) about their delivery fee? Mine is significantly less than I expected.

UponAStar16 · April 2016

I don't know what a delivery fee is so guess I need to start doing some research!

rozANDbenSINCE2001 · April 2016

My OB's pregnancy "package" is something like $4000, $5000 for a c-section. That includes pre-natal visits and in office tests/ultrasounds. Anything done at an outside lab or 3D ultrasounds done at the hospital are separate. Keep in mind, your OB's fees probably don't include the hospital fees like your stay in the room and if you have a c-section, anesthesia and the cost of operation room/staff are billed by the hospital. Also, my hospital stay was 4 days in a private room after my section. My insurance deductible and max out of pocket was 6,000 so that ended up being the most I paid, and yes, I definitely hit the 6k.

edited for clarification

MKJeffrey2002 · April 2016

I have a 2500 deductible. My plan has an HRA too but that doesn't kick in until the first 1000 of the deductible is met. My ob is having me prepay a little over $1900 for ob visits and delivery charges (excluding hospital fees, labs, and ultrasounds). I started with $150 first visit and pay $600 a month for three months. I really thought that was low considering the deductible.

jkmix21 · April 2016

I think it depends on your insurance. I had Kaiser when I had my first back in 2010. I ended up with a c-section and had to pay $1000 for my total hospital stay. I think out of pocket was some crazy fee, I want to say around $15,000-$18,000!

ByeBabyBunting · April 2016

With my son we had amazing coverage and the whole thing cost me $10. With this one is going to be about $3,400. Could be worse, but it's still kind of scary.

kmalls · April 2016

Depends on your insurance. We have a high deductible plan ($3,000), so we paid $3k plus 20% of charges after that $3k was hit. With my unscheduled c-section and DS spending 5 days in an elevated care nursery, we ended up paying about $6,500 total.

PCOSbaby · April 2016

My OB has a "package" too. It's something like $6k no matter what type of delivery you have.

They also included a price list for things NOT included such as the anesthesia for the C Section (~$500), circumcision (~$300) and ultrasounds {yup...freaking ultrasounds} which is ~$150.

I don't have my paper in front of me that's why I used the ~ sign. I may be off by $50 or so.

Because we met our deductible, we only have to pay our coinsurance for delivery. That's 20% of the total since insurance will pay 80% after deductible.

I hope that helps!

nlane0723 · April 2016

Okay, now I'm confused. My paperwork said $354 for delivery fee if it's a vaginal delivery, not including anesthesia. My deductible is $500 (probably already met because of IVF). It also said my OOP was $3,400, but I have no idea what means and I don't go back to my OB until mid-May. Now I'm scared. I have three monthly payments of $118 beginning in May.

nlane0723 · April 2016

UponAStar16 said:

I don't know what a delivery fee is so guess I need to start doing some research!

It's the amount you have to pay before a certain week for your "delivery." It has to be paid in full before they release your records (usually by 34 weeks).

kmalls · April 2016

nlane0723 said:

UponAStar16 said:

I don't know what a delivery fee is so guess I need to start doing some research!

It's the amount you have to pay before a certain week for your "delivery." It has to be paid in full before they release your records (usually by 34 weeks).

Though again, that depends on your situation. I don't have a straight-up "delivery fee," just an amount that's accrued over the course of pregnancy and delivery that is applied towards my $3k deductible. Once it's hit, it doesn't matter how much the hospital charges for delivery or anything else, I only pay 20% of it.

Sprinkels28 · April 2016

I am using a midwife and a doula. My doula's fees are $800, $400 paid at 15 weeks and $400 paid at 30 weeks. I will be giving birth at the holistic birthing center attached to the hospital and my fees will be $1900 flat. My birth plan is no meds or epidural... if my plan changes, my fee will change. The $1900 includes all prenatal and a post natal appointment as well. We have until after delivery to pay.

nlane0723 · April 2016

kmalls said:

nlane0723 said:

UponAStar16 said:

I don't know what a delivery fee is so guess I need to start doing some research!

It's the amount you have to pay before a certain week for your "delivery." It has to be paid in full before they release your records (usually by 34 weeks).

Though again, that depends on your situation. I don't have a straight-up "delivery fee," just an amount that's accrued over the course of pregnancy and delivery that is applied towards my $3k deductible. Once it's hit, it doesn't matter how much the hospital charges for delivery or anything else, I only pay 20% of it.

I should have been more specific. My delivery fee must be paid before 34 weeks and it's the co-payment based off of my insurance coverage. It may be something else for your OB/provider and/or your OB/provider may have an entirely different form of billing all together. Like yours.

ignoscemihi · April 2016

With our insurance, it's similar to @kmalls. We have a $4,000 deductible and then we pay 20% until we hit the maximum out-of-pocket amount, $6,000 so, unless my doctor decides to order some test that the insurance decides it won't cover, we will not pay more than $6,000 total for medical care during the entire pregnancy including delivery.

Your delivery fee may be lower than expected if it is a rate negotiated by your insurance company. I just used our insurance's treatment cost estimator and it says in my area, vaginal delivery itself usually costs around $3,300 but after insurance, the entire pregnancy (including the hospital stay, which is an average of $11,000) would only cost $4,600. So the number your OB gave you may be the negotiated fee and only what insurance doesn't cover.

EDITED to fix grammar.

MRSCORKER · April 2016

I'm confused about this too. I don't have a deductible and my benefits packet says it will just be a $25 copay but it doesn't say anything about pain meds, c-sections, etc. I got a notice from my OB that said I owed them $25 before week 32 but I'm assuming that's just for the OB and that I'll get a separate bill from the hospital. My OB practice is at the hospital where I'm delivering so im confused about how it works. Thanks for posting this! I would have forgotten to ask and then been blind sided at delivery!

mrszoess · April 2016

I have never heard of this. I don't even pay a copay at the doctor. the only copay we have is for the mfm.

kmalls · April 2016

MRSCORKER said:

I'm confused about this too. I don't have a deductible and my benefits packet says it will just be a $25 copay but it doesn't say anything about pain meds, c-sections, etc. I got a notice from my OB that said I owed them $25 before week 32 but I'm assuming that's just for the OB and that I'll get a separate bill from the hospital. My OB practice is at the hospital where I'm delivering so im confused about how it works. Thanks for posting this! I would have forgotten to ask and then been blind sided at delivery!

Yes to the bolded. We learned that the hard way last pregnancy, ha. My OBs practice is also within the hospital where we are delivering, but there are definitely separate bills. You get billed for the OB's time, then separately for the actual hospital room/equipment/anesthesiologist/
whatever.

Honestly your best bet is to sit down with someone who does billing at your OB's office, they will be able to look at your insurance and tell you exactly what to expect.

kmalls · April 2016

mrszoess said:

I have never heard of this. I don't even pay a copay at the doctor. the only copay we have is for the mfm.

Deductibles and delivery fees are different than co-pays. I don't have a co-pay either.

MRSCORKER · April 2016

Thanks @kmalls! I'll ask at my next appointment.

mkc3888 · April 2016

It depends on your insurance. I am very lucky. I have to meet my $150 deductible, which I met before my first OB appointment for my annual blood work. After my deductible I have a 0% coinsurance for in network and 20% for out of network. I have BCBS and haven't come across anyone out of network yet. So essentially the most it will cost is $300, if the baby is born in October, after our deductibles reset.

mrsman2018 · April 2016

Some of these are so high. Yikes. Glad I live in Canada.

nsquaredlife13 · April 2016

$250 out the door, regardless of the type of procedure or number of nights in the hospital. All of my prenatal appointments and labs are free, and the well baby visits are all free.

von1976 · April 2016

I was curious so I checked my insurance website...

To deliver vaginally at the best hospital in the region it will cost $8,613-$11,155. Member cost.... (wait for it)... $1
C-section? $10,002-$12,916. Member cost.... $2
I honestly love my insurance.

Curiously, what I consider the best hospital (they do the most deliveries), is NOT the most expensive. Hmm.

Mintz1982 · April 2016

littlewillie2016 said:

Some of these are so high. Yikes. Glad I live in Canada.

I am with you all the way I'm look at these numbers and thinking I Love my little Green heath card. I payed 15.00 for my daughters and son's birth that was for the phone tv and internet for 3 days. This time were just going to pay 5.00 for the Internet and watch Netflix while we wait.

NoraAurora · April 2016

$100 per night up to $300 for mom & baby (so max of $600 total). I was double covered for DS so I paid $0, but I'm part time now so I may get stuck with the whole $600, worst case scenario (I had listeriosis with DS so we each stayed 5 nights on antibiotics). So hopefully I'll manage to not eat recalled food this time.

ETA: my prenatal visits, labs, ultrasound, and well baby checks are 100% covered as well (but I believe under ACA all well baby and well child appointments are required to be free by law now).

booksandicecream · April 2016

@littlewillie2016 yes! Wow, sending a little thanks out to the universe that I live in Germany. My prenatal care is 0 with the exception of the genetic risk assessment I paid for. My delivery fee will be 0 unless I want a private room. American health insurance blows.

sheviolentlyknits · April 2016

We don't have health insurance because we couldn't find any in our area that would cost us less than $15,000/yr (including deductible and monthly premiums) but luckily, I live in an area with tons of Amish people and they never use insurance companies, so all the doctors around here are very used to self-pay patients and are priced very reasonably.

My doctor is $2500 (would be less, but I'm a VBAC) whether I deliver vaginally or by csec. The hospital is another $4,000, though last time they seriously fucked me over because I had to be induced via Foley bulb which apparently negated my contract, meaning they could charge me whatever they wanted, to the tune of $13,000. I'm actually still in a dispute over it because at no point was I told that a non-medicated induction would void my price agreement. Argh!

SuperNerd42 · April 2016

@mkc3888 I have BCBS too, and must have a similar plan to yours. We pay a pretty considerable amount in monthly premiums, but the coverage is very comprehensive once we've hit the deductible (I think ours is $500). We almost switched to a HDHP this year and so glad we waited. Traditional is more expensive month to month, but we'll save in the end. I'd hate to have to pony up 6k our first year of having an HSA. Stupid insurance.

As for OB fees- I totally have no recollection of this from last time at all. I'll have to ask at my next appointment. Otherwise I'm sure I'll figure it out when I get a surprise bill in the mail...

Tara0604 · April 2016

Some of these prices are scary. I'm extremely grateful for the good insurance plan that i have (I won't say great). If nothing has changed policy wise from when I had my son, my co-pay will be $300. My son was in the NICU for 4 days and so he had a $300 co-pay also. Everything else is covered throughout the pregnancy except for genetic testing and i have to pay a co-pay for some of my labs.

kmalls · April 2016

I guess I should mention that our high-deductible plan is also an HSA plan, meaning we have an attached savings account that is used towards medical expenses. We contribute a fairly substantial amount to the HSA per pay period, plus DH's company matches a certain percentage, so we should have the entire cost of the birth set aside in advance.

coffee89 · April 2016

I don't remember what the hospital bill was because everything got billed separately after the birth and surgery. I was getting bills for months. my insurance covered 90% so I paid next to nothing compared to others. Same this time. We do have a payment plan set up because I am not anticipated to hit my deductibles ($500) plus that 10%. I think it's like $300 they are asking for ahead billed over 4 months. My OB last time didn't do pre-billing.

For me I pay one co-pay to the MW or ob and then nothing until the birth. Labs are covered, tests are mostly covered (any genetics is a denial) and baby well visits have a co-pay.

LGW2015 · April 2016

Ugh this topic is so depressing haha I have to talk to my dr's office the next time I go because my insurance is changing as of May 1st (yay to turning 26 and getting kicked off my parents' insurance mid-pregnancy). We don't have insurance through DH's employer bc it's a very small company so we went through the marketplace. The best plan I could find that still had an affordable premium requires $500/day for the hospital (Max $1,500). Our deductible is only $250 but then we have to pay 10% of everything after that, this includes all of the dr visits, ultrasounds, tests, etc.

I'm hoping the dr's office can give me some kind of estimate cost so I have a clue what 10% is going to look like, especially because my dr does "global billing", which means that they'll just send me one huge bill after everything so I have no idea what it will look like.

BoyMom44 · April 2016

$150 copay which includes all my prenatal visits/labor/delivery/newborn care regardless of the type of delivery.

kmalls · April 2016

Tara0604 said:

Some of these prices are scary. I'm extremely grateful for the good insurance plan that i have (I won't say great). If nothing has changed policy wise from when I had my son, my co-pay will be $300. My son was in the NICU for 4 days and so he had a $300 co-pay also. Everything else is covered throughout the pregnancy except for genetic testing and i have to pay a co-pay for some of my labs.

Honestly the higher numbers are only scary if you're not prepared for it. We had new insurance for our last pregnancy, and we made the mistake of blindly listening to DH's company line of "our insurance is GREAT!" Yes, that's true, but there was still a substantial bill at the end of the day due to our deductible.

I truly don't mean to sound sanctimonious, but if anyone is even a little unsure of their coverage, it's worth sitting down with your OB or hospital's billing department to figure out exactly what you'll be responsible for. We ended up with $6,500 in bills due to emergency situations last pregnancy, which fortunately at the time wasn't an issue for us, but if it were a few years earlier it would have financially broken us. It just makes me nervous when people assume certain charges don't apply to them but don't actually KNOW. That was us, and it sucked!

bosslady925 · April 2016

Most insurance websites have cost estimator tools you can use too. Of course, talking to someone at your practice who has your insurance info will be most accurate. I only paid a one-time $45 co-pay which covers all my prenatal care/appts. If I need/want extra ultrasounds I pay $35 each. I just used the estimator tool on my insurance website and it says that everything, drugs + hospital stay, etc. will be $750 for vaginal delivery and $1,000 for a c-section. I think one important thing to note when you're talking to the insurance person at your practice is to see what types of insurance the anesthesiologist accepts. I've heard lots of horror stories that the person they had come in to administer the anesthesia was out of network and they ended up having to pay thousands more because of it. It's not something you would think to ask in the moment, but it's important to advocate for yourself and your wallet if possible.

MRSCORKER · April 2016

Thanks @MorganL925 for the cost estimator suggestion! I went online and figured it out for the most part. I owe my OB $25 for all pre-natal care plus delivery and then I'll owe about $75 to the hospital for either a vaginal delivery or C-Section. It didn't say anything about pain management so I'm not sure if that will be an additional cost or not. I went back to my old company just for the insurance. So worth it to pay $100 total for all pre-natal care and delivery. We pay a good amount per month but good insurance is worth a million dollars!

daisy19782011 · April 2016

I have to pay $3800 prior to a scheduled C-section delivery just for my doctor. Everything else will be billed after. I am freaking out! I am at a MFM though, and my insurance only covers 60%. Not ideal to say the least.

I would think that if it is an unplanned C-section, you would get billed after for any additional fees.

I am in Houston, TX if location makes a difference.

With my twins, I was inpatient from 28-33 weeks (they were monoamniotic) and they were in the NICU for 3 weeks, and never saw a bill. MH had WAY better insurance, but got laid off in March

Everything works out

nlane0723 · April 2016

Thanks, ladies! I'll follow-up with my OB at my next appt.

coffee89 · April 2016

Also along the lines of sitting down with the OB or hospital billing dept ahead, call your insurance and ask every question you can think of, don't rely on that book you got when you signed up. How many u/s are covered before you have to fight them? What tests need referrals? At what point do I need preauthorization for a test/visit/ exam/ monitoring at the hospital? Exactly what pumps are covered if I breast feed? Do you cover a lactation consultant? There are more, but they are a few I ran into along the journey last time.

I only get 3 u/s unless I am sent to the hospital for one so I skipped the NT scan and "saved" a scan just in case, I can't have any genetic blood work done outside the quad screen and have it paid for. If I go to one hospital I pay 10% but another I'll pay 25% even with the same doctor because of network coverage. Those are things that add up and you don't know it until a bill hits you. I've had tests done that required pre-auth but the doctor never called to get it and I didn't know I needed it because I relied on a doctor to know my plan and had to fight a $3,000 upper GI scope.

nlane0723 · April 2016

Great idea! @coffee89

When I received my packet, it had a breakdown of what was covered (all U/S as needed, all genetic testing, the NT scan, I don't any co-pays for prenatal care/OB visits, I do pay $40/visit for high risk until my deductible is met and I only get the Ameda pump

).

coffee89 · April 2016

@nlane0723 Not a fan of Ameda here, it did the job but it wasn't great. Can you rent a hospital grade pump since you are having twins? I know that helped a few mommas from my last BMB (both singletons and multiples).

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