Hospital Bill for new baby

[clarkfan1979]

For birthing of a baby, I am responsible for 15% of the total bill, with a max deductible of $2500. I haven't seen the itemized bill yet, but my insurance told me that I am responsible for the max deducible for the hospital bill. It was a vaginal birth with 2 nights in the hospital. No complications.

Do you remember the hospital bill and care to share?

[Sibley]

No kids, but w/ some knowledge. Assume you're paying the $2500. Also, review the itemized bill and if you see anything that looks wrong, speak up. Errors are common.

Congrats on the baby! Remember: any day that ends with the kid still alive was a good day. No matter what anyone else tells you.

[clarkfan1979]

Yes, we are paying the $2,500 deductible, so I guess the total bill must have been more than $16,672. We are responsible for 15%. If my math is correct, 15% of $16,672 is $2,500.

[little_brown_dog]

If I recall my vaginal delivery with epidural was about 10-12k total billed to insurance. The vast majority of the cost was the delivery/care itself, and I remember being surprised to see the epidural was so cheap. I ended up paying something like $700 out of pocket before I hit my deductible. So for us it was a pretty inexpensive thing as far as US births go.

[I'm a red panda]

I can't help you with vaginal...but my c-section (epidural and also general anesthesia) and 3 day stay was $27k in hospital services, plus about $9k in professional services. The baby (no complications) was charged $4k in professional services.

Due to a mix up, everything was denied, so I'm not sure what I'll end up paying.  My OOP max (now that the baby is added...) Is $6000, so not more than that... 

This doesn't include any of my office visits, imaging, prenatal testing.

[dreamer8887]

Sounds like a steal (for the US). My vaginal birth with epidural was billed to insurance at over $60K. I'm in Illinois with Blue Cross Blue Shield PPO if that helps. I would have loved a $2500 deductible! Mine was $3750, and then responsible for 20% after that, so I ended up hitting my max OOP for the year (around $6000).

Crazy country. In my homeland, it's all free for everyone, and we spend less per person on healthcare than the US does. Probably shouldn't derail this thread into a "is healthcare a right" discussion though, there are plenty of those going on elsewhere.

[batemama]

Something to keep in mind is extra bills.   When we had our daughter, the hospital made us pay the deductible and coinsurance up front.  We thought we had everything taken care of.  Then we got a bill from my doctor, the anesthesiologist, all of the pediatricians that checked on the baby, the tests, NICU (nothing serious, daughter had a bowel movement; they were only there to suction out her nose and mouth once she was born), etc.  The insurance company made us pay a deductible for me to have a baby and another one for my daughter to be born.  We paid close to $4,000 in the end ($1,300 is what the hospital had us pay).

[dreamer8887]

Something to keep in mind is extra bills.   When we had our daughter, the hospital made us pay the deductible and coinsurance up front.  We thought we had everything taken care of.  Then we got a bill from my doctor, the anesthesiologist, all of the pediatricians that checked on the baby, the tests, NICU (nothing serious, daughter had a bowel movement; they were only there to suction out her nose and mouth once she was born), etc.  The insurance company made us pay a deductible for me to have a baby and another one for my daughter to be born.  We paid close to $4,000 in the end ($1,300 is what the hospital had us pay).

Yes excellent point, your baby will have his/her OWN expenses after s/he arrives. So my baby also hit her individual deductible. She didn't make it to her max OOP but her bills were also in the thousands and thousands - neonatal care, pediatricians, all the things they give newborn babies.

[Frugal716]

My wife had a very uneventful delivery, no epidural, 2 nights in the hospital, and the hospital bills came out to ~$10k. I was honestly shocked given the horror stories I have heard.

Interestingly enough the insurance actually settled for more than the billed amount as they have a negotiated $/delivery with the hospital, which in this case was greater than the cost of the individual components. Didn't make a difference to us given that we had already hit the deductible and no coinsurance.

[Psychstache]

I can't help you with vaginal...but my c-section and 3 day stay was $27k in hospital services, plus about $9k in professional services. The baby was charged $4k in professional services.

Due to a mix up, everything was denied, so I'm not sure what I'll end up paying.  My OOP max (now that the baby is added...) Is $6000, so not more than that... 

This doesn't include any of my office visits, imaging, prenatal testing.

This is about the same as DW. The charges for the baby were a little higher I feel like (C-section with no complications).

Don't forget about your OOP max. Our plan had a deductible on 100% of costs up to that, then 20% of costs up to our OOP max, so for us we spent well over $10k. On the plus side, it was the beginning of a plan year, so we have been cruising on auto-pilot for everything since then. Gonna be sad when train comes to a stop.

[ysette9]

Every time I read a healthcare-related thread I have a renewed sense of gratitude that we have Kaiser. I have friends who have an Aetna-based plan and got random, inexplicable bills up to a year after delivery. What a waste of time for them to decipher and then fight all of that.

I had a c-section and my baby spent six nights in the NICU. I don't remember the ridiculous bill for my stay, but I was responsible for my out of pocket max, which was $1500. My baby was covered under me and we never got a bill for her stay. I'd actually be curious to know how much the NICU stay would have been.

Because Kaiser, all prenatal visits and tests were covered with no co-pays. Kaiser is serious when they say they focus on the préventative aspect of healthcare.

[High Income Parent]

6 years ago when we had our now six-year-old, we were able to pay a flat $12000 dollar rate upfront for an uncomplicated pregnancy and delivery.  With the changes in healthcare over the last six years, I have no doubt the costs will be over the $16000 plus range. I was thinking more like 20-25K is retail cost.

For comparison, our first child (now 15 years old) cost us $15 bucks. Times have changed.

[Morning Glory]

Every time I read a healthcare-related thread I have a renewed sense of gratitude that we have Kaiser. I have friends who have an Aetna-based plan and got random, inexplicable bills up to a year after delivery. What a waste of time for them to decipher and then fight all of that.

I had a c-section and my baby spent six nights in the NICU. I don't remember the ridiculous bill for my stay, but I was responsible for my out of pocket max, which was $1500. My baby was covered under me and we never got a bill for her stay. I'd actually be curious to know how much the NICU stay would have been.

Because Kaiser, all prenatal visits and tests were covered with no co-pays. Kaiser is serious when they say they focus on the préventative aspect of healthcare.

My hospital system is quite similar. I had  a C-section and had to pay my $2000 oop max, plus I received a bill for $800 for the baby's hospital stay (which they reduced to $400 because a billing error caused it to arrive a year late). The deductible and oop max went up the year I had my son, as did the waiting period for short term disability.  I still have no copay for prenatal/ postnatal care, well baby visits, etc.

The doctors are all employees of the hospital so I never have to worry about who is in network. That sounds really stressful.

[Lumberjack]

C-section, no complications, 3 nights in hospital, and the statement we received was just under $26k. This is Western PA.

[clarkfan1979]

I got my bill today and the total was $21,000. I was responsible for the $2500 deductible.

[SimpleCycle]

I had a long induction, so four nights in the hospital, and a vaginal birth with no complications, and the hospital bill (not including any professional charges for the doctors) was $25,863.  Another $7,540 for the doctor charges.

[Drole]

Delay paying and negotiate. Birth just shows the amount of scam in the medical industry. But I digress. But negotiate!!!!

[jac941]

I walked into the hospital, delivered my baby less than 10 minutes after I arrived (no time for drugs, monitoring, or even vital signs until after delivery), then stayed in the hospital 1 night. Baby had the usual birth blood and hearing screenings. $13k total. We paid maybe $1000 of it.

[I'm a red panda]

I got my bill today and the total was $21,000. I was responsible for the $2500 deductible.

That seems pretty good! I'm surprised you don't owe beyond your deductible- do you have 100% maternity coverage?

[eddie]

We had a baby last August.  Vaginal, no complications, I think it was 2 nights.  I was pretty tired.  We have an HSA with a max out of pocket of $9-10k per year.  I'm pulling this from memory.  I forgot what our split is.  We ended up paying about $6,400 out of pocket everything included (epidural, hospital, OBGYN, etc.) We payed everything through the HSA and ended up getting about $1,500 put back in our HSA this January.  The hospital we bad the baby at is my wife's employer and the insurance company we have is also owned by the hospital.

[MrsDinero]

My out of pocket expenses from the time I found out I was pregnant to when I gave birth was about $3k.  I opened the chase sapphire preferred card and paid the entire bill with that paying off the card before each billing cycle. 

[JustTrying]

My wife had a very uneventful delivery, no epidural, 2 nights in the hospital, and the hospital bills came out to ~$10k. I was honestly shocked given the horror stories I have heard.

Interestingly enough the insurance actually settled for more than the billed amount as they have a negotiated $/delivery with the hospital, which in this case was greater than the cost of the individual components. Didn't make a difference to us given that we had already hit the deductible and no coinsurance.

This is what mine came out to too, very similar situation. 2 nights, no complications (I did need oxygen and IV fluids, so I'm sure that was an extra thousand or so...), no epidural. Total bill was right around $10,000. I was responsible for 10%.

I think it varies greatly on where you live and what your insurance company has negotiated with the hospital though!

Edit: I'm thinking it over now, and I do believe that I THOUGHT it was $10,000 and I'd paid it all off, and then I got another bill. So it may have been more like $13,000, with me paying $1,300.

[MayDay]

I had my first in the hospital as it was quite cheap when we had excellent insurance 9 years ago (I have no doubt that plan is no longer available!)

My second was a home birth, for ~4000$.  Obviously HB isn't for everyone, and in some areas is not safe for anyone due to distance from hospital, lack of coordinated back-up care, etc.  But holy crap is it a lot cheaper for better care. 

[mm1970]

Kid #1, 2006, approx $8400.  $4200 for hospital, $4200 for OB/GYN services.  2 nights, vag delivery, with epidural.

Kid #2, 2012, approx $13-14k.  I don't remember the breakdown, but prob $6k for the OB and the rest - $7k-8k for hospital - *one* night, no epidural.

[dreaming]

My kids are 11 and 9.  I don't remember exactly what it cost to have them, but probably around $11,000 to $13,000.  I do remember what we paid though.  $30 for both.  2 copays.  That was back in the day when we did not have a deductible and copays were cheap.  I have been with my same company for 17 yrs and have seen the insurance get increasingly crappy as the years go by.  Apparently we still have good insurance, (comparing our company to others our size), but I think it's crap compared to what we had.   Deductibles came into play 4 or 5 years ago and along with that it is now a $35 copay. 

[wordnerd]

I had the simplest birth possible (not even an IV), discharged 24 hours later. Total was over $13,000.

[MrsCoolCat]

For birthing of a baby, I am responsible for 15% of the total bill, with a max deductible of $2500. I haven't seen the itemized bill yet, but my insurance told me that I am responsible for the max deducible for the hospital bill. It was a vaginal birth with 2 nights in the hospital. No complications.

Do you remember the hospital bill and care to share?

Breakout tomorrow but just for the hospital I paid $1,500 OOP for myself. Daughter's bills came separate. No epidural.

[Lila8]

Every time I read a healthcare-related thread I have a renewed sense of gratitude that we have Kaiser. I have friends who have an Aetna-based plan and got random, inexplicable bills up to a year after delivery. What a waste of time for them to decipher and then fight all of that.

I had a c-section and my baby spent six nights in the NICU. I don't remember the ridiculous bill for my stay, but I was responsible for my out of pocket max, which was $1500. My baby was covered under me and we never got a bill for her stay. I'd actually be curious to know how much the NICU stay would have been.

Because Kaiser, all prenatal visits and tests were covered with no co-pays. Kaiser is serious when they say they focus on the préventative aspect of healthcare.

Aetna is the absolute WORST. I am dealing with them now and wish I had known how disgusting Aetna was before I enrolled. Not only do they charge a co-pay for every little thing, they also deny claims for the most routine of things in a standard, complication-free pregnancy. Standard 20 week anatomy scan? Experimental. Denied! Doctor listens to baby's heartbeat on basic Doppler at your once monthly checkup? Experimental. Denied! I just asked an Aetna representative how my doctor is supposed to check on the baby's heartbeat if the most basic of care is going to be denied as "experimental" and got no answer. They will claim it's because of how your doctor coded your care but that is a blatant lie. At my doctor, Aetna is the only insurance company that will look at the code and call a routine procedure experimental. If you ask them what kind of code will have Aetna recognizing the care as standard/non-experimental, they'll say "I can't give that information."

I am looking to switch as soon as I can, but I shudder to think what my delivery bill will look like if I don't get to switch. Bottom-feeders.

Whatever you do, avoid Aetna like the plague for your peace of mind. Blue Cross Blue Shield was so much better in my experience, and I've heard great things about Kaiser, too.

[umm...Megs]

Seconding the Aetna is awful.

Screen for the most common STD that can cause complications during vaginal birth? Experimental. ??? Really?

Anyway, looking at it we were charged ~$16k total and ended up paying ~$5500. Of the $16k, $3k was for the kiddo.

Vaginal, epidural, no complications, but doctor did order an extra set of labs for the kiddo...

[chaskavitch]

I had a vaginal delivery with an epidural and some craziness at the end with bleeding, baby was healthy, and we had a three-night stay (apparently laboring overnight is considered staying overnight).  Looking back, they charged for a LOT of things on separate submissions. 

$15,942 for room and board and "medical and professional services", lol. 
$9,955 for pharmacy services
$9,255 for Urgent Care
$800 for anesthesia
$2,449 to baby's insurance for Medical/professional services and "detailed pharmacy dispensing". 

That's in addition to what I paid for my prenatal care and midwife services. 

We did end up at my individual out of pocket max and $400 towards baby's deductible, but my work insurance is amazing and my OOP max was $2500.  We have United Health Care and we're in Northern Colorado.

One word of caution about Kaiser - they have a lot more restrictions about which doctors and hospitals are in-network.  Check very carefully beforehand where you're allowed to go.  I have a friend who went to an out of network hospital because it was the closest one after she had her baby in the front seat of her car, and they're on the hook for the entire bill.  I think her latest interaction with the insurance company included "Could you see his chest moving up and down?  Then you knew he was alive, it wasn't an emergency.  You could have gone home and taken him to the in-network hospital the next day."

[I'm a red panda]

I will say, while I will meet my out of pocket max, I'm thankful for my insurance (anthem bcbs).
It paid for a CVS- FISH and micro array, and an amnio with a karyotype. Last pregnancy it covered the amnio with a microarray and a maternal karyotpe, as well as the fetal echocardiogram, and tons of extra ultrasounds with an MFM. And it covered (after copay) all my diabetic supplies. My MFM had me testing 4-6 times a day. Test strips cost a fortune.

[Easye418]

Baby is coming in July. 

I had to prepay my hospital bill, which was $2,400.  My OOPM is $3,750 per,  if all goes well, I expect to pay somewhere near $4,000.  I expect my wife to max out and son to hit a few hundred.  I am planning to have all the money put aside though just in case. 

But look at the bright side, we get a steak or lobster dinner the night after we deliver the baby!  ....

[LiveLean]

We had self-employed health insurance when our second child was born in 2005. (Self-employed health insurance. Wow. I'm going to have to explain what that was in a few years thanks to the ACA.)

Anyway, wife had c-section for first child in 2002 while covered by employee plan. In months leading up to birth of second child, I tried to get an answer about what our max deductible/out-of-pocket would be. I got a different answer each time I called. Some service reps told me it would be more if she had another c-section. Another said more if it's vaginal. The consensus seemed to be that we'd pay more if we had another c-section.

So my poor wife went into labor feeling additional pressure (no pun intended) to have a vaginal birth and felt bad when after a long labor she ended up in the OR for another c-section. The bills kept coming for the next six months, totaling about $3,000. I remember calling and asking at one point and a rep said, "Oh. It's too bad you just didn't schedule a c-section. You wouldn't have incurred half of these bills."

Wow. I would have liked to have had that rep tell that in person to my wife.

On my son's first birthday I got another one of those $80 bills that you know is incorrect - and they know that you know that it's incorrect -- but they also know that since you're self-employed and have to battle this all out on your own, that you're more likely to just send a check than take the time to straighten it out.

Sadly, they are correct. I stroked the $80 check and thankfully that was the last of it.

With the ACA on the horizon in 2010, my wife went back to work so we'd have health coverage. I make far more self-employed than I ever could working full-time.

I hate our health care system. It forces people to be beholden to an employer and/or the government rather than be self-sufficient as small business owners, independent contractors or freelancers.

[cacaoheart]

My daughter was born ~10 weeks ago and we're still figuring out exactly what it cost since insurance is still sorting some of it out. We went with a freestanding birth center staffed by nurse midwives and prepaid their estimated cost of $2600 ($1500 of that being from a health reimbursement account funded by my wife's employer). My wife's employer essentially waived her $1500 deductible for participating in various healthy behaviors like logging her runs and speaking with a pregnancy caseworker each month to make sure she was doing well. While the full cost looks to be around 8 grand, our out of pocket cost may be closer to $1100.

We arrived at the birth center at 6am, our daughter was born at 11am, and then we left at 7pm that same day. It was a really good experience, we had a nurse and nurse midwife to ourselves, with a big comfy room, tub to hang out in, and a big bed. Oxygen and such were available if needed, and a major hospital was just down the road if needed. Then we had a follow-up home visit with a nurse midwife and a 2 and 6 week follow up at the birth center.

[seattlecyclone]

We had a baby at the end of 2015. I made a thread about it here.

In a nutshell, the sticker price for the OB services (prenatal appointments and the delivery combined) was $5k, my wife's hospital bill was $6.5k, the baby's own hospital bill was $3k, and a couple other things (pediatrician visits in the hospital and a hearing test) added another $500 or so. The insurance negotiated rate brought the price down a little bit.

What made a really big difference for our bottom line was that we made my wife covered under both my employer's insurance and her employer's insurance, retroactive to the delivery date. That made her bills count toward the deductibles for both plans. Our out-of-pocket costs for that hospital stay ended up being less than $600, more than $2,000 less than they would have been if we hadn't done the dual coverage. See my last post in that thread for more details.