It’s no secret that having a baby is costly, and those expenses begin with the child’s birth. But did you ever wonder how much it actually costs to give birth to a baby in the U.S.? Well, now we have the answer. According to a new Kaiser Family Foundation study, the median cost to have a baby in the U.S. is almost $20,000. The group used data from the IBM Health Analytics MarketScan Commercial Claims and Encounters Database to determine the amount. The info is based on data over a two-year period, from 2018 to 2020, looking at 2,267,200 women, ages 15 to 49, enrolled in large employer private health plans.
When you account for pregnancy, delivery and post-partum care, women who gave birth racked up, on average, $18,865 more in healthcare-associated costs than those who didn’t have a baby. Insurance did cover, on average, $16,011 or those costs, but parents still have to shell out $2,854 out of pocket. And that amount changes depending on how they deliver. Vaginal deliveries were much less, about $14,768, with $2,655 out of pocket. While C-sections cost, on average, $26,680, with out-of-pocket expenses about $3,214, plus an additional $500 for child-birth related expenses. And it can cost some parents even more, with the study not considering the costs of things like fertility services, which aren’t always covered by insurance.
SOURCE: New York Post