An uninsured friend asked me what it costs to pay for the cost of having a child. Well I recently got my medical bills, so here it is:
- Natural birth with no anesthesia or other medication. One night in the hospital in a shared room. $10,427.00
- Care of newborn baby for under 48 hours. Hearing test, blood tests. $2505.00
- Obstetrician (includes prenatal visits) appx $6,500
- Misc blood tests
We have health insurance through the Freelancers Union. We are “fortunate” to be able to pay $932 a month for the 4 of us. Our coverage consists of a PPO plan where we can see specialists without a referral. We pay a $30 copay for a primary care doctor, and $50 for a specialist, which is high, but we can deal with it.
The tricky part is coverage for hospitalization. Most people don’t have to worry about hospitalization, but unless you make other arrangements for a non-traditional birth, a woman and child will be hospitalized for birth. Our insurance covers 80% of the cost of hospitalization after a deductible of $2000.
So that means, that our final out of pocket cost to have a baby in the hospital was $3, 289! I can’t help but to feel that the money would have been better spent on a homebirth.
