How Much Does It Cost to Give Birth?

When you go to a hospital to have a baby, you probably don’t have a clue how much it will cost. For one thing, most people don’t have a choice of hospitals. You go to the one your insurance will cover, and where your doctor has privileges. Or the only hospital in town. They charge what they want, and knowing won't change that. Johnny Harris and his wife Isabel wanted to get an idea of what the bill might be beforehand, but ran into problems -no one wanted to quote any numbers. It’s a secret!

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Luckily, they had insurance, and the insurance company haggled the bill down after the birth. A person without insurance would be stuck with the entire bill, and hospitals rarely negotiate prices with individuals. The “good” news is that if they think you won’t be able to pay the bill, you’ll be sent home within 24 hours. As expected, the comments under this video are full of Europeans shocked that Americans have to pay to have a baby. -via Viral Viral Videos

I've been a provider, worked for an insurance company and paid out of pocket for healthcare. Insurance companies negotiate a rate with providers - a provider will say, "We charge 'x' for a procedure" and will say to an insurance company, "We'll accept 'x' - $150." But if you approach the provider without insurance, they will charge you "x." And if you're an insurance company, you try to present as many hurdles as possible before you issue payment. That's because insurance companies put premium payments into short-term investments. It benefits the insurance company to hold onto that money as long as possible to make money on it. As evidence of that, consider the fact that in the US, we pay more for healthcare bureaucracy than any other country in the world. Snafus, billing problems, medical code problems, etc., etc., all benefit insurance companies.

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So maybe you all should be expecting your politicians to be discussing things like this rather than walls and tacos and hispanics. I decided to look into how much I pay for healthcare and I found this article: http://www.ctvnews.ca/health/true-cost-of-health-care-to-average-family-is-11k-per-year-report-1.2525114

So, since I have been paying into the system for many years and my only hospital stays were to have my two children, I have actually paid much much more to have my kids here in Canada. Still won't complain though, I'm happy with healthcare in Canada.

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