Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Birth...how much does it cost? Here's one answer!

I just went through all the birth bills today and have the final number/breakdown. It was really hard to find this info when I was pregnant and the actual numbers are interesting, so I thought I'd share.

For background, I belong to a corporate PPO plan with a $300 individual deductible/$600 family deductible. Keep in mind the numbers below don't include my monthly premiums and my pregnancy did not span multiple years, so I only had to pay the deductibles once. My copay is 10% for hospital stays.

I saw a hospital based CNM and had an uncomplicated (except for meconium) vaginal delivery at a local hospital. I did have an epidural. We also left one day early, but I don't think it made too much of a difference in the final numbers. Also, I didn't include any of the baby's care after the newborn exams in the hospital.

Also:

Billed=the base amount billed by the provider. I assume this is what anyone "off the street' (without insurance) would be charged, though I've heard you can negotiate this quite a bit.

Negotiated=The amount the insurance company actually has to pay due to the rates they have negotiated with the provider.

My portion
= The amount I was actually responsible for paying



Billed Negotiated My Portion




Prenatal Care/Midwife Fee $3,900.00 $2,302.16 $230.21
Early visit to hospital (not dilated enough) $473.47 $317.22 $63.44
Delivery/Hospital Stay including Epi supplies (Mom) $7,081.55 $1,948.92 $389.73
Epidural--Anesthesiologist Fee $1,978.20 $1,114.70 $111.47
Delivery/Hospital Stay (Baby) $1,452.26 $507.00 $41.40
Newborn Exam (Possibly for Meconium--unsure) $326.00 $325.39 $32.53
Newborn Exam $400.00 $89.66 $8.96
Baby Labs/Bloodwork $39.78 $29.00 $2.90
Mom Deductible

$300.00
Baby Deductible

$300.00




Total $15,651.26 $6,634.05 $1,480.64


That epidural worked out to something like $95/min because I waited until 9cm and turned it off after 45 minutes to push. Granted, I didn't pay that much, but isn't that amazing!? If someone had told me the base cost without telling me an out-of-pocket estimate (I didn't know either), you can bet I would have found a way to push through that pain!

3 comments:

  1. Its amazing! We are still arguing with our insurance over all this - thank goodness we are not with that company anymore!! Crazy to look at the epidural that way...its a pretty penny to be "pain free"

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  2. Praise the Lord for an incredible insurance plan! That is AWESOME you only had to spend that much out of pocket!

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  3. Krista--good luck!

    Jenny--we are VERY happy!

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