Who pays for births in the U.S.? Medicaid-- 29%. Private insurance--48%. Uninsured--17%. #aabc
  • Safiyah Ribis, Cassandra Brady-Yost and Heather Gaurkee-Raheb like this.
    • Danielle Ann Michaud-Elwood Per 2005 statistics... 40% of cesareans were paid by medicaid, 52% were paid for by private insurance and the rest were private.
      September 3, 2010 at 9:35am
    • Tina Mackey I wonder about the under-insured. I'm going to end up paying about $2100 after insurance has paid their part.
      September 3, 2010 at 9:35am
    • Rose Glazener Cochran Very, very interesting.
      September 3, 2010 at 9:37am
    • Gina Parrish Kerr Where do all these people find insurance that covers maternity?
      September 3, 2010 at 9:37am
    • Clare Honn I ended up paying over $4,000 out-of-pocket for my prenatal appts and homebirth - and I have insurance! RIDICULOUS!
      September 3, 2010 at 9:37am
    • Racheal Hendrickson wow... that vast difference in who gets cut sure does seem to say a lot... do us with insurance look like an easier way to make money?
      September 3, 2010 at 9:38am · 2
    • Kari L Hentzelt ‎"Where do all these people find insurance that covers maternity?" <------ Canada :)
      September 3, 2010 at 9:39am · 3
    • Leah Gruenke Arndt Wow! Should feel lucky my co-pay for my c-section and hospital stay is going to be $240. Unfortunately I can't do a VBAC...my previous delivery was a high classic c-section due to a breach baby that go stuck.
      September 3, 2010 at 9:39am
    • DeAnna Garrett you have to be paying for maternity coverage. my plan automatically covers maternity but its through work. private insurance you have to specify that you want maternity coverage. before. you're pregnant.
      September 3, 2010 at 9:39am
    • Sara Brunazzi I have very expensive private insurance and it still has a $3000 out of pocket deductible. I pay the first $1000 and then they cover 80% of everything until I pay the other $2000 OOP.
      September 3, 2010 at 9:40am
    • Katherine Moser Potter So that's actually Taxpayers -- 46%, Private insurance -- 48%?
      September 3, 2010 at 9:40am
    • Denise Schipani Good insurance with my first son (c-sec) cost $200 out of pocket. Middling insurance with my second (insurance we paid more for, btw), also a c-sec, cost me $6,000 out of pocket. Fun!
      September 3, 2010 at 9:43am
    • Stephanie Davis Price CNMs in northern Indiana (attending at home and in an unlicensed birth center) have about 85% self-pay, pre-pay cash. It's so much easier.
      September 3, 2010 at 9:44am
    • Lynette Houston Wow! I guess I am a lucky one too! My insurance picks up 90% of my birth and 80% of prenatal care. I only have a $150 deductible each year too. Mine have all been vaginal births thankfully! My husband works union and our insurance is through his work.
      September 3, 2010 at 9:46am
    • Molly Doherty
      If Medicaid would cover home birth, we'd save the taxpayers a hell of a lot of money. Home birth is a viable option for many women and much less expensive than a vaginal hospital birth, not to mention they wont have to pay for the postpartu...m hospital stay for mama and baby. Also, if every woman got a doula, we'd have a much lower c-section rate! Maybe doulas should be covered by Medicaid as well. Ahhh.... my dream world. I know it'll never happen :(See More
      September 3, 2010 at 9:46am · 13
    • Lisa Brownlee Gustafson I opt to pay for mine out of pocket with the midwife and a homebirth. The insurance wouldn't dream of covering the best care available to me anyway.
      September 3, 2010 at 9:47am
    • Molly Lemen Molly - some medicaid do. here in Alaska our medicaid for preg/children is called denali kid care and they DO pay for midwives birthcenter OR home birth. Saves a TON of money.
      September 3, 2010 at 9:47am · 2
    • Tiffaney McCarthy Not all uninsured automatically get paid for by tax payers. Lots of people who use midwives for home births and even birth centers, pay for it out of pocket. I personally also know of 3 people who have privately paid for hospital births in the last few years. (Hospital births are more cost effective if privately paid since the hospital has no motivation to push for unneeded interventions and surgeries.)
      September 3, 2010 at 9:48am · 2
    • Diane Turrell Graf US govt paid for both of mine - military dependent birthing at a naval hospital - had to pay for my meals only. My dd first cost a $10 copay, her second Medicaid - both complicated pregnancies ending with c-sections :(
      September 3, 2010 at 9:48am
    • Kaycee Lott-Doula oh molly, i wish i could "like" this a hundred times!
      September 3, 2010 at 9:49am · 2
    • Diane Turrell Graf Medicaid in FL pays for hopsital, birthing center or home birth and OB or MW care - with section rates at 40% or higher at most hospitals the alternatives are definitely the way to go.
      September 3, 2010 at 9:49am
    • Anna-Minna Pavulans Sherwood First baby (unnecessarean) we were out over $5,000 in spite of excellent private insurance (high deductible mostly to blame). Total bill just about 30,000 which is just INSANE!; 2nd baby, HBAC, covered at 55%, out of pocket $1,450. For instance, first birth hospital charged $1,500 for DD's "Room and Board" though she never left my side and only nursed. Infuriating.
      September 3, 2010 at 9:49am
    • Molly Doherty Other Molly, thanks for the info. My state (Massachusetts) doesn't cover home birth, and I thought it was a nationwide issue. We have Medicaid and I ended up paying out of pocket for my sons birth at home with a midwife, which was money I obviously didn't have since we qualify for Medicaid! I got a loan from my mum and asked for donations in lieu of baby shower gifts.
      September 3, 2010 at 9:51am
    • Kim Zolvik-Liaz
      I had what I believe was an unnecesarean, baby in NICU for no real reason, and PPH a week later that resulted in a TAH after being left to bleed in the ED for 10 hours (and told a lot of bull in the interim). If I had a vaginal birth, my in...surance company would have saved at least $100,000. Now I may need surgery again for an abdominal hernia. When the f*** are these insurance companies going to sop rewarding these butchers?See More
      September 3, 2010 at 9:53am
    • Lindsey Coulter Marsolo Our first son's home birth was not covered by insurance, but we have new insurance now (second son is almost 3 months old) and are in the process of filing for reimbursement!! Fingers crossed...at >3,000, home birth can be a lot cheaper than hospital birth, so here's hoping.
      September 3, 2010 at 9:53am
    • Eleia Ulrey Barnes We paid for our homebirth out of pocket. But honestly, it amounted to around the amount we would have paid an OB/hospital even with insurance.
      September 3, 2010 at 9:57am
    • Eleia Ulrey Barnes Well, or even less if we would have had a c-section...
      September 3, 2010 at 9:58am
    • Joy Kirk I had my two youngest at a birthing center, one huge factor was our lack of insurance! I'm so glad I chose this method over the hospital! Not only was my care unbeatable, but half the cost!
      September 3, 2010 at 10:00am · 2
    • HollyAnne Braun Clare Honn: I am in the same boat. Over $4000 for my homebirth and prenatal visits and I have insurance as well. Still trying to get some reimbursement from my insurance company.
      September 3, 2010 at 10:19am
    • Joyce A. Vanselow So would you be opening another can of worms if doulas were covered by Medicaid... because then wouldn't they have to be standardized/regulated/licensed. I have VERY uneasy feelngs about that sort of thing.
      September 3, 2010 at 10:20am
    • Michelle Balog I paid oop for all 8 of my hbs. I had 2 transfers and insurance paid for the hospital portion 100%. Insurance never covered my hbs.
      September 3, 2010 at 10:23am
    • Katie Brownstein Knostman I am lucky that my private insurance covers 100% of my maternity care and delivery, except for a $100 copay (although my premiums are high). And I think THEY should be thanking ME for saving them lots of money by having an unmedicated VBAC last month instead of a RCS!
      September 3, 2010 at 10:27am
    • Adinah Caro-Greene Medicaid pregnancy here... and boy, did I have an expensive, overly monitored and medicalized pregnancy. Course, with Medicaid, you never get a statement of benefits... so for all I know, the state of California was even charged for the epidural that I refused
      September 3, 2010 at 10:28am
    • Rebecca Dean Lehto I had no idea so many people DIDN'T have maternity coverage. We've had full insurance coverage through my husband's job for all four of our births and have only had to pay co-pays. Even our twins with an outrageous amount of ultrasounds and OB appts. and Perinatal appointments and OR delivery (vaginal!) probably only cost us a couple of hundred dollars out of pocket.
      September 3, 2010 at 10:52am
    • Molly Lemen My first son was a c/s (his was actually a needed one due to a birth defect) and we got a statement from medicaid. would of cost us 30,000 for the c/s / drugs / room / food / plus his month in the NICU and his surgery.

      2cd baby was HBAC and cost about 4,000.
      September 3, 2010 at 10:56am
    • Molly Doherty
      Adinah, it doesn't make sense, does it, that Medicaid patients have more medicalized pregnancies & births? It seems that when a Medicaid patient comes in they're like "Oooh, the gov't is paying, we can do whatever we want!". It's almost lik...e they think because we don't get the statement or benefits there's no accountability because the government isn't going to take the time to sift through all the paperwork.

      They've also probably done some complicated mathematical equation about how scaring a Medicaid patient into a quick in-and-out c-section is more cost-effective than a potentially long labor and vaginal birth... "the more people we can get into that L&D bed in the span of a day=more $$=win!!"      See More
      September 3, 2010 at 11:03am · 1
    • Leanne Stacherski Wow, when I read stuff like this I'm glad I live in Australia. My 4 births have cost me nothing. We also get midwives that come out to us after we go home.
      September 3, 2010 at 11:15am
    • Kathy L McRae have any of you experienced that when you are uninsured, the hospitals will work with you and reduce your bill? I have heard of it for injuries and serious illness, but I wonder if it happens with birth services? If you have no insurance, have you ever asked about it? What was kind of response did you get?
      September 3, 2010 at 11:18am
    • Joy Kirk the hospital will reduce your bill if you can pay it in full at that time. My husband and I put a huge amount on a home eq. line of credit to pay for our 2nd. It saved us in the long run because the hospital reduced the bill. We are self employed and Ins for our family sucks! We make too much to get Medicaid.
      September 3, 2010 at 12:51pm
    • Kayla Pennington ‎@Molly, it depends on the state. WA state fully covers homebirth, and you're right, I'm sure it saves them a lot of money.
      September 3, 2010 at 3:16pm
    • Kate Thurgood
      Leah Gruenke Arndt:
      check out these links for information on VBAC after a classical incision - http://www.joyousbirth.info/forums/showthread.php?t=41328
      http://www.ican-online.org/vbac/home
      www.homebirth.net.au
      It is possible and women hav...e done it. If you want a VBAC, read as much as you can on your type of VBAC. Don't know if someone has already replied to you with this information. Good luck with your next journey. There are also 'mother/baby friendly cesareans' (if there's such a thing) where the mother takes her own baby out, immediate skin on skin, lotus cesarean birth etc. Google search if you're interested. I used to have a link to a great article but have lost it in a computer crash.See More
      September 4, 2010 at 5:19pm
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