Glad I Read This Now...

[martian687]

I've been paying out-of-pocket for private insurance since Interbots went full-time, back in 2006. Good thing a baby hasn't been in my plans.

I had always assumed if I got pregnant by accident I would have a choice, but a $500 pill from planned parenthood vs. a $22K delivery is not really a choice when you've got < $1000 in your bank account. I

Comments

[color_so_loud]

Obscene. The US is not supportive of mothers at all, when you add consideration for the weak maternity leave standards -- barely enough (usually unpaid) time to form a bond, recover from birth, and establish a breastfeeding relationship before you're expected back in the office.

Of course, you can always go homebirth with a midwife and cut your costs by some $20,000 ;) And get better care to boot (assuming healthy normal pregnancy).

[martian687]

This phase of my life is a long way off, but I'd always assumed that barring any medical emergencies, I'd go as natural as possible at a birthing center. I'm not sure how birthing center costs compare to homebirth and hospital delivery; I'm guessing somewhere in between. 2gouda4u?

[madduckdes]

If you have a completely natural-ish birth at the hospital, it's not that much. But on average the hospital will be more likely to put you on a heart monitor or suggest drugs, more likely to keep you in bed for longer after, and your chance of a C-section goes up if you start at a hospital rather than a birth center. So on average a hospital bill is much higher than a birth center bill.

On the other hand, if you start at the birth center and end up at the hospital, and if you want the person you've been working with the whole pregnancy to come with you to the hospital, it's an extra $1000ish on top of whatever the hospital charges you.

[erinpie]

Really? Not even an epidural? You're hardcore. :)

[bobbzman]

I've heard numbers in this range before and am always puzzled. Where does all that money go? Do birthing mothers really use $20K+ worth of drugs and physician time?

[linley]

This chart is useful: http://childbirthconnection.org/pdfs/birthcharges.pdf. The $20K+ numbers usually refer to c-sections after a mother has labored in the hospital for some time, because then you have the charges for all the interventions/physician time/etc. that happened before the c-section in addition to the surgery. A c-section is major abdominal surgery, and is correspondingly expensive

[2gouda4u]

$12000 of the $22000 in the article was from prenatal care - multiple ultrasounds, assorted bloodwork, etc. And as Linley says, c-sections are expensive (I think the author had one). Though the author's numbers on uncomplicated vaginal births is also pretty high (~$7000?).

[komaheian]

I have a friend involved in the marketing campaign for one of the morning after pills and it's not anywhere near $500 per dose. So, I'm confused.

[erinpie]

The morning after pill, levonorgestrel, is [relatively] cheap - and sometimes free - but it does not work if you're pregnant!! It is not an abortion pill; since it is synthetic progesterone, and progesterone is needed in pretty high amounts to maintain a pregnancy, you'd just be giving your body what it already makes and needs to stay pregnant. Mifepristone is not cheap (around the $500 Seema mentioned, but could be lower or higher) and will end a pregnancy - it blocks progesterone receptors, which means your body can't use the progesterone it's making and thus can't continue the pregnancy.

So, if a hypothetical woman finds herself pregnant and needs to end the pregnancy, Plan B will do nothing for her.

[komaheian]

hence the confusion. I always know when I've had significant risk and either take 'plan B' or sweat it out. (sweat it out = wait anxiously until I find out I'm not pregnant.)

[erinpie]

I think that's beside the point- the question is about what the options are once somebody is already pregnant. Although I agree with you that Plan B should be considered as an option to prevent pregnancy before it occurs, once you're pregnant the prices in Seema's post are correct.