Approximate medical expense for delivery (obgyn, health insurance, home)

[TexasTony]

$3.5k-$5k usually non complicated delivery

[Rycy]

I'm not sure about Memorial Hermann specifically, but I had a noncomplicated delivery in November down the street at Methodist. It was billed to insurance at 30k for all costs. Insurance actually paid about half that.

[ChristieP]

Get the insurance. If there are complications, you will certainly need it. Even a single day in the NICU can cost over $10k! If an emergency C-section is needed, you would have to pay for that, too. I can't believe someone would even consider paying cash for a delivery when there is insurance readily available...

[aero100]

What price do you put on risk mitigation? That's what insurance is all about.

When my son was born a couple of years ago we ended up in the NICU for about a week for a transient blood condition that was not immediately threatening and went away with time. More of a practical measure since babies in the NICU are constantly monitored. This is very common with newborns, the docs are ultra-conservative.

That cost the insurance company $65,000. Google "cost of babies in NICU" and you will find plenty of examples on forums with people who are billed to the tune of hundreds of thousands (I found a few at over a million dollars).

There is a not-insignificant risk you will incur this sort of cost. Your choices are: 1) Have a six figure level of cash put away, 2) be saddled with medical debt for years 3) plan on going bankrupt if you incur an expense like this (destroying your credit for half a decade or more) or 4) buy insurance.

[kchaturv]

Cost of my twin girl's delivery was $145,000 4 years back in Portland, MN. It was a complicated case though. My out of pocket was about 5K thanks to insurance.
As others have mentioned above, taking that kind of risk on your finances is not worth it IMO.

[ToyYot]

Life flight, 12 days in ICU, premature birth, 3 months in NICU, three hospitals, two more private air ambulance flights...

$350,000.

Yes, get insurance.

[DSL_PWR]

you mean after the passage of bhocare there are still people without insurance?




get the insurance..

[ipuck]

Originally Posted by ToyYot

Life flight, 12 days in ICU, premature birth, 3 months in NICU, three hospitals, two more private air ambulance flights...

$350,000.

Yes, get insurance.

Oh man. You take the cake on this one.

[PinkLadyK]

Even with a high deductible I think you are bound to at least break even in a best case scenario (or come very, very close). The only way you can do it "cheaply" is by birthing outside of a hospital and having no complications. Sounds like you aren't doing the first, and can't count on the second. Insurance is to cover worst-case scenarios and many of us pay for insurance that we will never use. You have the advantage of knowing that you will definitely use yours, so might as well get it.

[marksmu]

Originally Posted by DSL_PWR

you mean after the passage of bhocare there are still people without insurance?




get the insurance..

While I agree that this person needs to get the insurance...the insurance available since the passage of Obamacare is more expensive, and significantly worse than the insurance available prior to Obamacare.

The ONLY people that Obamacare actually helped were the un-insurable folks...people with cancer, people who are already pregnant prior to buying insurance, people who were diagnosed with an illness prior to buying insurance, essentially people who were guaranteed to use far more than they paid into the system for coverage.

For everyone else, the insurance is significantly more expensive to buy, has a much higher deductible, and now, unless offered through your employer, everything offered is a HMO, so its not only more expensive, its also much more burdensome. Unless of course you are low income, then they just have the rest of the population pay for the care.

But in this case - buy the insurance...you can't be denied the insurance just b/c you are already pregnant and guaranteed to use up the claim amount, but you will likely find, you are going to need to pay an additional $5000-$7,000 out of pocket after your premium to have this baby...so time to start saving! Babies are expensive.