How much did you pay out of pocket to have your baby-

[NEVE and TRISTAN]

With T'ster the birth center was out of network so we had to pay 20% of his birth. I think when we got the hospital transfer though that that was covered. anyway I think we paid over $1,000 maybe even more since I was pregnant 2002 and into 3003.

I was suprised at the birth center a few weeks ago they want a $500 deposit from the first visit from everyone. I didn't know my total benefits so I paid it.
I came home and called my insurance and I am 100% covered. What a nice feeling...we can use that with the adoption and all...


Neve and Tristan born Feb 25, 2003
* EDD 3/19/05 IT'S A GIRL
* DOSSIER IN THE HANDS OF TRANSLATOR

http://home.nc.rr.com/ourbabytristan

[Rachels]

Our birth center was covered, so the whole thing was $10. We also paid our doula $600, then had more for an IBCLC. What it costs the insurance company for you to birth in a birth center or at home is tens of thousands of dollars cheaper than birthing in a hospital, so it's silly of them not to cover it.

-Rachel
Mom to Abigail Rose
5/18/02


"When you know better, you do better."
Maya Angelou

http://www.gynosaur.com/assets/ribbons/ribbon_sapphire_24m.gif Two years and counting!

[brubeck]

The births, OB and post-partum visits were fully covered. I had to pay $120 per pregnacny (theoretically $10 co-pay for 12 OB visits) and that was it. Even the parking at the hospital was free! We have Blue Cross and the doctors and hospital are in our HMO.

[deborah_r]

I don't think we paid anything. I think all of my pre-natal visits were free. Just like we don't have to pay co-pay for scheduled well-baby visits, I think the pre-natals were covered too. I seem to remember some kind of bill regarding the hospital, but I think it just showed how it was all covered.

[LucyG]

We have an HMO, so we paid $15 for the first prenatal visit, $15 for the Level 2 ultrasound, and $200 for the hospital stay. All in all, not bad!

http://www.gynosaur.com/assets/ribbons/ribbon_emerald_18m.gif[/img][/url]
19 months and counting!

[lfp2n]

I had to pay one $10 co-pay for all the PN visits,and a $100 hospitalization bill for the birth. Of course friends who were a few months behind me felt price increases on our insurance, now its $15 copay and $200 hospital.

Lucy DD 3/03

[kristenk]

Well, we got to the max. out-of-pocket expense level for DD's birth and the very end of my pregnancy. So, I know it was at least $1700 and then throw in maybe $100 during the previous year for stuff. I was always amazed when I received my Explanation of Benefits statements and it showed the "discount" that the insurance company got. Even though we spent over $1700, I shudder to think what it would have been without insurance.

[mharling]

$10 copay if I was having an ultrasound in the dr's office, otherwise not even a copay for the regular OB visits. Nothing for the hospital. Definitely less than $50.

Mary
Lane - April 2003
Little brother or sister on the way - EDD March 2

[flagger]

We paid a co-pay for the initial OB visit, co-pays for prenatal vitamin perscriptions. We also paid an admission co-pay for both Ms. Flagger and a separate one for the baby.

[Momof3Labs]

I don't think that we paid a penny for the actual birth; our deductibles (two health plans) were already met and my insurance pays 100% after the deductible (a whopping $3,00)) is met.

[Marisa6826]

With Sophie, we paid $100. But since having her, my OB has stopped taking insurance, so his bill is $8000. This excludes any hospital charges for the stay (which will be covered 100% less the $100 copay).

Because I've been his patient for over 12 years, he's willing to accept my out of network cap, which I believe is $3000. I think we've had to pay him $500 cash so far, but that should be it.

-m

[MorganMom]

Your OB stopped taking insurance??? Wow! And his bill is high too!

W/DS#1, we paid our max out of pocket expense: $2500. I had him naturally at the hospital: OB bill was $3500, plus hospital bill of about $7,000. That was all covered once we paid out our $2500. Both OB and hospital were in network so they were covered 100%

W/this baby we are having a homebirth w/a CNM who is not in network. The most my insurance will pay for out of network providers is 50%. Midwife's bill is $3000 for all prenatals and delivery. We will probably end up paying about the same as last time: $2000-2500 for the homebirth. If we transfer to the hospital, that will be 100% covered.

[ddmarsh]

Wow, we've never paid anything and I've had 4 sections.

[new_mommy25]

I didn't pay a dime. Like Deborah we don't have co-payments either. We were lucky that my DH had a job with such awesome benefits at the time.

[MelissaTC]

Under our plan, all OB visits were covered after the first so we paid $15 for the doctor. Since the hospital stay and c-section were considered under the hospitalization/surgery portion of our coverage, we were responsible for 10% which came out to $1100 for both Matthew and I. When we saw the inital bill of $11,100 we were in sticker shock.

[jubilee]

For Jacob it was $10 - which was the hospital food fee. I had him at a Navy hospital.

For Logan is was $120 copay to the OB and $200 to the hospital per day, so I just stayed one day!

[jamsmu]

$25 copay

[Puddy73]

We paid 20% but quickly reached the $2500 out of pocket cap due to preterm labor, several MRIs, etc. Our deductible is $750, plus some things were not covered by our insurance plan, like DD's hearing test - go figure. Our total cost was around $4,000.

Jennifer
Mommy to Annabelle Mae 9/8/03

"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away."

[californiamom]

We paid $100 for hospitalization and $5 co-pay for my pre-natal vitamins and that was it -- no co-pays for OB visits, no charges for meetings with the LC (and I had many, even 6 months after giving birth).

Oh, I also paid $80 for a VHS copy of my ultrasound that was done at a different hospital.

Ana

[brigmaman]

My insurance was awful when I was pregnant with Brig. I had to pay anything beyond what the insurance company found "reasonable." It ended up being copays...too many to count, a few hundred for ultrasounds (had a bunch due to past problems), close to $2000 for delivery (prepaid) and a few hundred more for anesthesia.
This time I have only had copays so far.

[Marisa6826]

It's actually gotten quite common here. My OB's in NYC.

He said that he was doing more paperwork than practicing medicine, so he made the call to stop taking 98% of the insurance companies (he takes two NY companies - NY BC/BC and one other).

The $8K covers all testing and ultrasounds, so I guess part of it will be covered in network once the bill is broken out.

-m

[californiagirl]

I was uninsured. The baby cost about twice as much as my last car. Then again, I only drive a Honda Civic...

[mekiemom]

Out of the total $60,000 hospital bill when it was all said and done we only had to pay $200 copay for the hospital stay and Each prenatal visit was $15. Though I had to fight the whole way but it was all covered. DD was in the NICU for a month so that is why the bill was so high. We've since changed insurance carriers and we are "out-of-network" now so if we should be blessed again I don't think it would be as cheap.

Jenn
my sweet girl born 3/02

[Tondi G]

Man we payed a lot for DS! I think it was close to 2000 to the OB and then another 500 of so to the hospital. we had the top PPO plan through Blue Shield. DS's circ was not covered either so we payed for that as well... 300 bucks I think! I delivered at a well known LA hospital and they charged over 30,000 for teh delivery and 2 night stay..... my bill also included a 5000 epidural that I never had, my delivery was drug free, natural all the way! Check your bills ladies!

This time around I have no idea how much it will be cause my OB moved practices and I'll be delivering at a different hospital.... I am pleased about all that!

~Tondi

[KrisM]

We paid $29. It was $10 for co-pay for the midwife visits, $8.50 for the phone in the hosptial, and $8.50 for the T.V. in the hospital. Not too bad.

[ErinMC]

All of our prenatal visits were free, except for the first one, which had a $15 copay. Our copay for the hospital was $250, I think. I remember getting the bill when I was delirious from lack of sleep a few weeks later. :-)

[blnony]

I guess we were really lucky with our health coverage. It only cost us $10 to have Audrey. We had one co-pay for the 1st visit then it paid everything else, including specialists.

[pritchettzoo]

Our insurance had a really high deductible, so our total for my OB and mine and DD's hospital stay was over $3000. We're still paying on it actually (no interest, so why not devote monies to bills with interest, KWIM?) and we joke that hopefully she'll be ours one day. We also joke at some trying moments that the repo man would be welcome to stop by. ;)

Anna

[nohomama]

Lola and Astrid where both born at home. With each of them we paid our midwives $2800 for all prenatal care (monthly visits to 28 weeks, bi-weekly visits to 36 weeks, and weekly visits to 40+ weeks), the birth, and post partum care (home visits at 1 day, 3 days, 1 week, and 2 weeks and office visits at 4 and 6 weeks). On both ocassions our insurance company would not cover any of our expenses. Silly considering it was a mere fraction of what they would've paid had I delivered in a hospital.

[C99]

Lucky you to be covered 100%. Our benefits keep dropping, so we will unfortunately pay a lot more for this baby than for Nate. I believe with Nate, all of my prenatal care was covered with a single co-pay; that's also the case with this one. But with Nate, there was a $25/day co-pay for the hospital, so it cost me $50 or something for me and $250 for Nate since he spent 8 days in the NICU. With the next one, it will be a $500 co-pay for each of us -- me and baby -- and then doctor's fees on top of that, I believe. We have a PPO, if that makes any difference at all. I got our benefit paperwork/changes in the mail yesterday; my husband's company *used* to have such great benefits. Argh. Sucks.

[mharling]

LOL Anna!!! My brother and SIL had a loan to help with their adoption and when they paid it off, they joked that noone would be able to find her sitting next to the repo'ed cars.

Mary
Lane - April 2003
Little brother or sister on the way - EDD March 2

[Mommy_Again]

I am sick to my stomach reading all the posts of people who paid $10. $25, $100. I am still settling with insurance for DS's birth, and in the end it will costs us over $1000, not sure of the exact figure. Our insurance at the time (Aetna PPO) covered 80%. I have uncovered several billing errors so far to the tune of hundreds of dollars, so definitely don't just pay every bill you get! It is overwhelming to get all these bills from multiple sources, and I think they count on people just writing a check without question.

I am grateful that there is such a thing as medical insurance but sometimes I just can't stand it!

[sirensrise]

i paid nothing. what my primary did not cover, my secondary picked it up. now i have only 1 insurance though.

[HannaAddict]

We had an unpleasant surprise. After having 100% coverage, my office decided to lower our benefits (with no warning) right before I had our son. So, we ended up maxing out $2,500 for me and $2,500 for son after unexpected c-section and stay in NICU. Luckily, we could pay it.

What was so awful is that my office did this right before a few babies were born in our office, two to admin. staff who didn't have the resources to pay up if there were problems (one had an emergency c-section). Then, my office decided to quit contributing anything towards dependent insurance (they had contributed 50%). So, the for the first time in my life that I needed insurance, was hospitalized, or had a dependent, I was out of luck! I don't know what our admin staff is going to do to pay for insurance for their kids. Several of them are the conduit for insurance, husbands work construction or for companies that don't provide it. The lack of benefits really helped finalize my decision not to go back. No golden handcuffs here.

[SeekerMage]

I think that we paid about 2 to $3,000 between dr visits and delivery. Partly because insurance only covered so much, and partly because we we late getting the insurance due to dh's job situation and with my high risk pregnancy there were LOTS of visits. So yeah....I miss my HMO with 100% coverage, including infertility and well visits....sigh :(

[vpalmer]

We paid $10 to have Eva! We paid a co-pay at the very first pre-natal visit and the rest of the visits were covered. Her hospital birth was covered 100%.

Veronica
Mom to Eva

[californiamom]

I am shocked to see how much $$$ some of you did pay to have your babies. I agree with you -- sometimes I just CAN'T STAND health insurance companies... AND my mother was a doctor, AND president of a Health Insurance company for 10 years -- although this company was more like a cooperative than an all-for-profit business.

Ana

[Jeanne]

$5 for Charlotte and $10 for Claire. Both were born at the hospital so there weren't any other out of pocket expenses except my prenatal vitamins. Each script was good for 3 months so I paid $8 every three months over the course of 3 years.

[KGoes]

I think by the time it was all said and done, we paid about $2000 - but most of the pregnancy expenses, which were portions of tests not covered, etc., did not count towards our deductible since the policy resets July 1 and DD showed up a few weeks later. . . . We will not be having that problem with #2.

Kelley
DD born 7/03
And the next one due 4/18/04

[lizajane]

i find it very depressing to read how many people got free babies. ;)

we spent a few thousand on schuyler, but don't know the exact number. it was a co-pay of $200 and 20% of the total.

this time, my insurance got worse and it is a $300 co-pay plus 30%. that is just the hospital bill. i have already been paying $250 per visit to the OB to cover the $2000 OB bill.

but our max out of pocket is $3000. so i think that the total will be $3000. plus the co-pays for the baby, who is on DH's insurance, not mine. so his coverage will be a little better, but i think we will still pay 20%.

and my insurance changed when i was about 20 weeks pregnant with schuyler from $10 copay for OB TOTAL and $10 copay for the delivery TOTAL to the $200 and 20% charge...

[calebsmama03]

Wow! I'm so jealous of those who's insurance is so fabulous! With C, DH had fabulous ins when I got pg but was then laid off, so I took my company's crappy HMO. Let's see, if we're looking at the entire pregnancy - Ob visits are considered "specialist" so each was $40 and after 22 weeks I had to go weekly (though they ended up cutting us a break and only charging for the "normal" amount of visits). Then I had to see a peri, and there were none in network, so his bill was out of pocket (aprox $400), then 2 hosp co-pays at $500 each. Yuck!
Lynne
Mommy to Caleb 3/3/03
http://www.gynosaur.com/assets/ribbons/ribbon_emerald_18m.gif[/img][/url]
Oh my!! #2 5/05

[cmo]

My first baby in 2002 was a $10 baby. This year, with the same employer and insurance, baby #2 clocked in at around $2500-$3000. Plus we are paying more out of pocket now each month for insurance, and it will be even more next year. I'm grateful we have insurance, but I do long for the good old (cheaper) days!

[jpang]

We had to pay $20 at the first OB visit, nothing after that except $20 copays to the nutrionist once they diagnosed me with gestational diabetes.

Hospital bill: $240 of lactation consults fees and pump gear were not covered. Everything else was. Not bad, considering the entire bill was over $16k. (And this was not a c-section: medicated induction with no complications.) I was stunned by how much it costs to have a baby in a hospital.

It would be frightening to be pregnant w/o insurance in this day and age.

[aliceinwonderland]

0
LOVED Tufts HMO!

[american_mama]

With my HMO, one $15 co-pay covered all the prenatal appointments except for two ultrasounds at a radiologist's office each with their own $15 copay. Prenatal vitamins were not covered, for some strange reason that I would like to have explained to me. The copay for the birth was the same as for any other hospitalization, $200 with my HMO. The big surprise to me was that for a birth, you are charged TWO copays, one for mom and one for baby. I think some HMOs charge only one for a birth.

[crl]

DS is adopted so we covered all the fees out-of-pocket. We should get $10,000 back in an income tax refund because of the adoption credit though! :-)

[urquie]

$.00 we have one awesome insurance plan!!

[eb1]

We paid a $40 copay to the OB for all prenatal care plus a hospital copay of $250 per day. If I'd gotten pregnant a year or two earlier, I'd have only had to pay the hospital a $100 copay (and none of the per-day nonsense)...unfortunately, our copays keep getting significantly higher each year.

[kristine_elen]

I think the only thing we paid for was parking at the hospital.

(Aside from co-pays for my regular OB appointments -- $10 or $15 each). Wait, those might not have had a co-pay, actually.

[loewymartin]

I had a copay for the initial (confirmation of pregnancy) visit. Then I only paid $10/month for my prenatal vitamins. We paid for our doula ($500) and $250 each for Alia and I to the hospital as our copay. That was it. All bloodwork, ultrasounds etc. were all included. We even had to be readmited a few days later because Alia had jaundice and we didn't pay anything for that.

I looked at my plan for next year and it's the same, except for a $20 copay instead of a $10 one. Hopefully next year will be the year for baby #2 - but who knows!

Michelle - Mom to Alia born 5/16/02

[mamaturk]

Our insurance company covered all but $500.00

[NEVE and TRISTAN]

2005 is the year I KNOW!!!!!!!

Big hugs girlie!!!!

Neve and Tristan born Feb 25, 2003
* EDD 3/19/05 IT'S A GIRL
* DOSSIER IN THE HANDS OF TRANSLATOR

http://home.nc.rr.com/ourbabytristan

[NEVE and TRISTAN]

But your post has me thinking "hmmmmm"...and if I didn't think I wasn't "hmmmm'ing" up the right tree I wouldn't dare have asked...


Neve and Tristan born Feb 25, 2003
* EDD 3/19/05 IT'S A GIRL
* DOSSIER IN THE HANDS OF TRANSLATOR

http://home.nc.rr.com/ourbabytristan

[starrynight]

Not a dime! Well I paid $7 to use the phone in my hospital room the first time ;). Everything was covered, if I had delivered off base I think I would have had to pay something like $25 a day for the room but since I had the girls on base I didn't have to pay anything. For ds's birth my insurance at the time covered it all no copay no matter where I delivered.