Giving birth can be exciting, scary, magical, painful, and many more things all at once. But what it can also be is expensive, especially for people in the US.
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Childbirth can be not only stressful but expensive, too
Image credits:Jonathan Borba/ Pexels (not the actual photo)
Sarai Jones broke down the price of childbirth in a video that went viral
Image credits:krazysarai
First thing is the labor room/delivery room, $13,900. I got another bill that says ‘room and board’, semi-private. That was $19,111.
Next charge is anesthesia, $2,181. Pharmacy $1,291.33. Other diagnostic services – that was $1,001. What is that? Please, explain. The laboratory was $862. And then I got a charge for the emergency room which was $411.
So all those together $38,757.33. That hurt more than the contractions. Thank God for insurance. They covered a lot of it. My amount due is only $1,418.26.
I’m not done. I have like 3 more charges.
Next bill is from US Anesthesia and they charge me $1,356.68. But after insurance, that was only $135.67. My last 2 charges are vaginal delivery postpartum care, and that was $6,793. The last final charge was the cervical dilator, which is the balloon that they put up there to induce my labor. That was $385. After insurance – $651.16. We love insurance.
The grand total added up to more than $47k
Sarai’s video was watched close to 40 million times on TikTok
Image credits:Mikhail Nilov / Pexels (not the actual photo)
Becoming a parent can be one heck of a roller coaster. From trying to get pregnant, to finally receiving the good news, from dealing with swollen ankles andmorning sickness, to experiencing the pregnancy glow and the little one kicking for the first time; there are plenty of ups and downs before the parents-to-be even get near the finish line and arrive at the delivery room. And finally, after the delivery—more complicated for some than for others—they are left with this precious bundle of joy, as well as a hefty bill, on their arms.
Some people might be shocked to learn that newparentsoften have to pay tens of thousands of dollars for the birth of their little one. But in the US, it’s not unheard of for moms and dads to be thousands of dollars in debt, even if insurance covers most of the hospital bills.
According toForbes, the costs of childbirth in the US vary quite significantly from state to state, with the expenses being the highest in Nebraska and lowest in Michigan. But the average cost of giving birth in the US stands at $18,865, which includes pregnancy, delivery, and postpartum care. For members of a health insurance plan, the out-of-pocket price might shrink to just shy of $3,000 dollars.
More than half of women in the US use private insurance as their source of payment for the delivery
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