The following is a post contributed to Healthsharing Reviews in October 2017 that discusses one member’s personal experience with an important healthcare concern.
Having a baby without insurance isn’t all that bad if you have the right tools.
When I first found out that my wife and I were going to be having our first baby, I was ecstatic! I had no idea what the process of having a baby was going to be like, but I was ready for it. That was until I realized how much it could actually cost to have a baby without health insurance.
*NOTE: I am a member of a health share, so I was not required to pay 100% of these costs out-of-pocket. Nonetheless, I was treated as uninsured by my providers and these are the costs I accrued.
The costs
Our very first visit to the OB-GYN, we were asked to put down a $300 deposit for the birth. I had no idea why I needed to do this, but everything was moving quickly so I handed them my credit card. Luckily, most services done during a pregnancy don’t require you to pay upfront—they just send you a bill.
Going through all my bills, I am not even sure what all of them were for. Not to mention, they came from a bunch of different providers—even if it was the same appointment. I’d should also mention that we had a c-section, which is probably a lot more expensive than your average birth. We also had intended to use a midwife and paid upfront for one until we learned our little guy was breech and would require a c-section.
Costs Breakdown (as of October 2017)
OBGYN: $4,742
Hospital: $28,063
Anesthesiologist: $2,113
Labs: $1,302
Midwife: $2,900
Pediatrician: $386
Hearing Exam: $250
Other Providers: $794,
Total: $40,550
That’s right. Forty thousand dollars for us to have our baby. Not only was this totally insane, the costs were broken down into an endless amount of bills. I would receive bills on almost a daily basis. At one point, I was even contacted by a debt collector for a $90 bill that must have gotten lost in the mountain of bills I was working through.
Utilizing the perks of not having insurance
Obviously, not having insurance is not the easiest route to go when having a baby—but there are some perks. The biggest perk is the fact that almost all providers will give you a “self-pay discount.” This is the provider realizing that I am most likely not going to be able to pay $40,000 out of pocket, so they instead agree to settle for less.
The biggest bill I received from the hospital was $19,000 and with a self-pay discount, they only asked for $9,000 of it. A huge discount no doubt, but still expensive.
How I paid the bills
As I noted in the beginning, I am a part of a health share, Liberty HealthShare to be exact. You can read a review of the ministry here.
Being a part of this ministry allowed me to submit all of my medical bills and have them shared among a large group of people.
Regardless of how these bills were paid for I thought the prices were staggering!
What do you think? Comment below with your opinion or other experiences you’ve had!