# Insured US residents: what did it cost to deliver a baby at a hospital? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 16, 2010, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insured-us-residents-what-did-it-cost-to-deliver-a-baby-at-a-hospital/564385 "2010-12-16T17:36:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![fubbleskag](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@fubbleskag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fubbleskag)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2010, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insured-us-residents-what-did-it-cost-to-deliver-a-baby-at-a-hospital/564385/21 "2010-12-17T01:22:14Z")
I’ll tell you in June. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2010, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insured-us-residents-what-did-it-cost-to-deliver-a-baby-at-a-hospital/564385/22 "2010-12-17T02:42:48Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > ETA: And you can ask about other treatment methods or drugs that are more affordable. Watch out, especially, for $300 antibiotics. They rarely work any better than the $30 ones. Call your pharmacy before your discharge to get a price on the prescriptions they send you home with. Then if there’s something outrageous on there, you can tell the doctor you need a more affordable option. Don’t assume that the doc orders the least expensive or the most effective thing first off. Many of them are simply clueless as to what the drugs they order actually cost. Don’t bother to call the pharmacy. Call your insurance company instead. If the $300 drug is in the insurance company’s formulary, the copay may be less than paying cash for the $30 drug. I’ve had some very expensive drugs cost me $3 out of pocket, while the theoretically cheaper alternative wasn’t covered at all. On the other hand, if you don’t have drug coverage, it’s worth getting cash prices from the pharmacy and finding the cheapest, best alternative. ---
**Author:** ![pbbth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@pbbth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbbth)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2010, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insured-us-residents-what-did-it-cost-to-deliver-a-baby-at-a-hospital/564385/23 "2010-12-17T02:44:53Z")
> [@Sattua](#): > > When i was first pregnant, the midwife offered the two prenatal genetics tests to me, if I wanted them. I called the insurance office to ask they were covered, and they had “never heard of either” and “couldn’t tell me without procedure codes”. I just bet they would “never have heard of” an epidural, either. They very well might not have ever heard of either of those genetics tests, depending on what your midwife called them. The very best thing you can do before you go into the hospital is to verify that 1) all of the providers you might be working with are part of your network and 2) get procedure codes for everything you might even possibly have done. Those procedure codes will give you the ability to know exactly what you will pay for everything. It sucks to have to do it all but it is the best way to get prices for things ahead of time. ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2010, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insured-us-residents-what-did-it-cost-to-deliver-a-baby-at-a-hospital/564385/24 "2010-12-17T03:18:27Z")
$50 co-pay for a $22,000 crash c-section. ---
**Author:** ![InterestedObserver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@InterestedObserver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InterestedObserver)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2010, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insured-us-residents-what-did-it-cost-to-deliver-a-baby-at-a-hospital/564385/25 "2010-12-17T03:27:34Z")
I had both mine at home with a midwife and paid out of pocket (just offering an alternative perspective). $1,200 for the 1st (born 1992), including all prenatal, 6 weeks of post-natal care for both mom and baby, and the actual birth. 8 yrs later, same midwife, $1,800 for the same deal. All completely out of pocket/no insurance involved. The insurance we had second time around wouldn’t pay for a home birth…but it gladly paid an average of 10 times as much per hospital delivery. Go figure. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![InterestedObserver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@InterestedObserver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InterestedObserver)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2010, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insured-us-residents-what-did-it-cost-to-deliver-a-baby-at-a-hospital/564385/26 "2010-12-17T03:37:36Z")
To add, I knew a couple with a kid born about the time my son was who HAD insurance and ended up with a $10,000 bill after the (perfectly uncomplicated) birth. They declared bankruptcy a few years later over it. All those saying, “Oh, it only cost me a few bucks or nothing because I had insurance” are not only fortunate but maybe overlooking the costs incurred over years of paying premiums for services they maybe only rarely used. Just a thought. ---
**Author:** ![raspberry\_hunter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@raspberry\_hunter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raspberry_hunter)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2010, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insured-us-residents-what-did-it-cost-to-deliver-a-baby-at-a-hospital/564385/27 "2010-12-17T03:47:44Z")
The Little One’s birth, 11 months ago, racked up a $15k hospital bill and a $5k (I think?) OB bill; the insurance paid all but the out-of-pocket max, which I think was something like $2k. (And we have secondary insurance that picked that up, but anyway.) My friend had a baby at home a week before I did, and her husband delivered (it was her third delivery, first two by midwife; I guess she figured by that time she and her husband were experts, and it did go smoothly). Cost: $0. But I wasn’t going to do that! ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2010, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insured-us-residents-what-did-it-cost-to-deliver-a-baby-at-a-hospital/564385/28 "2010-12-17T03:48:16Z")
It all depends on your insurance. When our daughter was born, we paid about $30 for the rental of a phone in the hospital room. And the birth was complicated, too. But we had a very good plan back then. Our current plan is nowhere near as good (not that another child is likely). ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2010, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insured-us-residents-what-did-it-cost-to-deliver-a-baby-at-a-hospital/564385/29 "2010-12-17T04:01:35Z")
I didn’t keep track of line items, but the overall pregnancy and delivery added up to something like $20,000: we may have paid something like 10% of that out of pocket. This included some issues involving an endocrinologist, as well as a c-section at the end. ---
**Author:** ![Tranquilis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tranquilis/32/3639_2.png) [@Tranquilis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tranquilis)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2010, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insured-us-residents-what-did-it-cost-to-deliver-a-baby-at-a-hospital/564385/30 "2010-12-17T05:05:17Z")
Two children. One born whilst I was in uniform, but at a civilian hospital, the other born after I’d mustered out. Net cost (each) after insurance paid: Nada. Zip. Zipp-o. Zilch. ---
**Author:** ![TheChileanBlob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thechileanblob/32/435_2.png) [@TheChileanBlob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheChileanBlob)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2010, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insured-us-residents-what-did-it-cost-to-deliver-a-baby-at-a-hospital/564385/31 "2010-12-17T06:54:20Z")
I paid a $10 co-pay at my first prenatal visit, which covered all doctor visits, labor and delivery, and all the baby’s care in the hospital. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2010, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insured-us-residents-what-did-it-cost-to-deliver-a-baby-at-a-hospital/564385/32 "2010-12-17T11:29:54Z")
$20 copay, covered all visits and the delivery. We did have one out of network doctor submit a bill, but we disputed it and the insurance company agreed to cover it as in-network. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insured-us-residents-what-did-it-cost-to-deliver-a-baby-at-a-hospital/564385.md?page=1)