I received my hospital bill from Levi's birth. I had a natural labor/delivery with no complications and only an IV of penicillin. I'll share just a few costs:
| Labor Room (11 hours): | $4,180 (That's $6.33/minute) |
| Delivery Fee: | $5,985 |
| Penicillin IV: | $536 |
| Recovery Room (2 days): | $7,908 |
| Nursery Room for Levi (2 nights): | $5,612 |
| Total hospital bill for me: | $19,194 |
| Total hospital bill for Levi: | $6,032 |
Add to that the Midwive's fee (separate from the delivery fee), pediatrician fees, and some other fees and you'll see how we racked up $29k pretty quick.
Well I certainly don't feel guilty anymore about taking a few extra packs of graham crackers for Calvin when I left the hospital...
I looked up Calvin's hospital bill from when he was born and the cost was about a fifth as much. I don't know if they charged so much because of our health insurance, health costs have gone up dramatically in two years, or because it's California.
I admit I don't understand everything about health insurance and health care costs, but it seems that the public is very disconnected from the cost of health care because of health insurance. I had no idea it would cost me this much until after I received the bill. Not once did anyone ever mention how much things would cost. One nurse prescribed a medication for me that I didn't even ask for and it cost $135. It's also crazy that the nursery cost $2,800/night. The nurses just said you can "feed on demand" if you wish. There's no way the sleep I got those two nights was worth that much money if I was paying it myself. It also frustrates me that I was charged $6.33/minute in labor/delivery and I waited an hour before the nurse finally started my IV (which had to be going for 4 hours before I was "supposed" to deliver).
I'll stop venting now, but if I ever had to pay for even a portion of a delivery in the future, I would have a home birth.
This little guy is worth the hospital cost if I had to pay it, but I would still opt for a home birth if I could. :0)
8 comments:
And you wonder why the food does not measure up as well...
That is crazy. It does seem rather inflated, especially since you did not have any complications.
Mom still has my hospital bill when I was born.
Cute pictures!
Oh I know! You'd think they would serve prime rib and fresh vegetables instead of the limp waffles and freezer burned ice cream (Utah Valley had better food than here...).
That's so crazy! It is interesting that nobody really talks about cost. I got a letter from my OB estimating costs, but it was still super vague. It said something like I need to have $490 paid before I go into labor and then the average for labor and delivery is $2400 for people with my same insurance but it didn't say what that included (room, nursery, dr, pain killers, IV etc)....
That's insane! If you had had an epidural it would have been even more! When I had that needle removed from my foot, we started getting these outrageous bills for doctors who saw me less than 5 minutes for $800, x-rays, etc.. so glad it was covered.
Julie's home birth was $2500, and the midwife did a load of laundry, cleaned my kitchen, and NO IV! Totally worth it!
WOW! $29,000 ??!!?? That's more than our house in Bennion cost! What a rip-off - BUT you got a sweet baby in return. My first pregnancy / delivery cost us $175 - including the doctor, and I stayed in the hospital for 5 days! Times have certainly changed!
We are so grateful for insurance. Wow.
With Max we didn't have insurance, (but the costs were def. not as high as with Levi's birth) so we were in deep water when we got our bill....Then the billing department calls and says, "so do you think you could have this bill paid of in 3 months?" I about died!
PS..He really is a GORGEOUS baby!
well that certainly is one good argument for a home birth!
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