Cost of Having a Baby When Insurance Doesnt Cover???

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That stinks that it will take so long for your insurance to kick in. Have you ever thought about a homebirth? Even though you would have to pay for it yourself (even with insurance -most just don't cover it), the cost is by far much less expensive than a hospital birth; about $1,500 average for a homebirth compared to at least $5,000 on up in a hospital. I could write a novel on how great a homebirth can be:) But it is something you have to research and really feel what is right for you. If you get pregnant Sept/Oct, your baby will be born in June - just in time for insurance to cover your pediatrician. It's just another option that women have. But if you are looking to have a baby for little to nothing, then you probably will have to wait for your insurance, or maybe other moms will have good ideas for inexpensive insurance you can buy monthly.
Good luck.
*If you do decide to look into a homebirth, I know several amazing midwives in the valley.

A.
mom of 4, Birth and Parenting Mentor
www.birthingfromwithin.com

HI L.-
Sometimes the hospital/docs will give discounts for cash only patients.... Our first son was around $7000... but that was all natural, no anesthesia, no emergencies.. just a basic easy delivery. That was 14 yrs ago, so the prices have probably doubled by now. We were also in a rural area where fees probably weren't as high.
I wish the best to you. Maybe there's some sort of temp insurance or having a home birth is another possibility, even though my husband would never let me do that.
hope this helps.
toni

Check out www.maternitycard.com

I know when I saw the bill from my daughter, who was delivered via C-section, I was FLOORED! We were in the hospital for 3 days and the bill was HUGE!! There was a mistake in the billing and I got the full bill for my daughter and it was almost $3000 JUST FOR HER!! Mine was more than $23,000!! Now, I know that's for a c-section and for extra time spent in the hospital, but remember: the number one reason people go into bankruptcy these days is due to medical bills. When my husband got bit by a rattlesnake last fall, he spent less than 3 hours in a hospital emergency room before he was airlifted to Tucson and that cost over $10,000! We never saw the bill from Tucson, where he was in the ICU for 2 1/2 days - thank God he's a veteran and the VA took care of everything. You have a large family and you might have the income to cover it, but why risk it? You have to consider any complications that might occur, or any extra time that might have to be spent in the hospital. Also, pre-natal care is very expensive - all the testing, the ultrasounds, etc. I think you need to put a little more thought into this decision.

I found myself unexpectedly pregnant without maturnity coverage 2 years ago. I called the doctor who said it is common and you just have to pay up front before the 7th month--$20,000! I would also have to make arrangements with the hospital seperately. The doctors office told me to plan on $30,000 total unless there were complications in which case it would be more. I was able to get insurance with Mercy Care through the state of Arizona. That cost $450 a month just for me and my husband and other children still were on our original insurance. Once the baby was born she was immediately put on the family insurance and after my 6 week check-up I cancelled Mercy Care and went back to the original family insurance. It cost a lot but to pay without insurance was more than we could afford.

When I was considering the same thing, I called my obgyn and asked what their cost for delivering a baby was. Then I called the hospitals in my area and asked them what their package price for non-insured deliveries was. Make sure to ask about the cost of a c-section-just in case.

This opened my eyes and made me realize that my ideal spacing of children was just not going to be a reality. I went ahead and got insured,but I am not 'allowed' to have a baby until 2010 because I have c-sections, and they will not cover that. I guess they are making sure that I didn't just get insurance to have a baby(which I did!) So, if I do get pregnant I have to convince my doctor to make my c-section an 'emergency'

I guess that is my only suggestion. Just call around and do your research. What insurance do you have? CIGNA had a shorter wait period when I was insured with them. That is who I had when I delivered both of my children-but it was almost $400 a month-just for me!!!!

It's sad that we have to make choices like that.
I have Cigna insurance (which sucks) and would you believe they still haven't paid the hospital bill yet (my daughter is almost 9 months old). Anyway, with the insurance I still had to pay almost $2000 for the doc, a few hundred for lab fees and I still don't know what I owe the hospital. My daughter will be almost 2 by the time I am done paying. We are making payments to the doc.

We had our baby without insurance with a midwife-attended homebirth. A midwife costs about $2,000, but you can sometimes get discounts if you agree to have a senior midwife student attend to your care (under the midwife's supervision). Good luck!!

I work at ahospital in labor and delivery and i know that we have cash-pay packages. It is around 1,250 for a vaginal delivery and more for a c/s (i cant remeber the cost) then you have to pay extra for an epidural and it is based on how many hours you have the epidural. Then you have to pay doctor's fees separately, and that all depends on the doctor. If you call the hospital you plan to deliver at they can give you prices, but you have to make sure it is all paid before you leave the hospital and sometimes before you even go in...depending on the hospital. Godd luck!

TRUST ME and wait until June. It's not that long. I'm paying cash for my 6th, and after two months of research and finding the very best possible deals I could, I came up with this: I can prepay $1800 for my OB visits for prenatal care, an extra $1500 for my lab tests, $2850 to the hospital for a 48 our stay and birth and epidural. This does not include anything but a normal birth, so any doctors and the anesthesiologist who administers the epidural has a prepay rate of $1000. If you cannot prepay for those amounts, it reverts to thousands and thousands more. Hospitals are allowed to charge a higher rate to uninsured patients than to insured patients because uninsured patients have no negotiating power, whereas the insurance comapany sets a limit on the amount they will pay for a procedure and the hopsital must take that amount. If you are uninsured, there is no such protection. In addition, if you have complications, you could have a major family financial crisis. Our first ended up being $30,000 due to some birth complications. This risk and stress is not worth saving a few months to have your children closer together, I promise. I would definitely wait the 11 months if I were you. I wish you the best in whatever you choose, though! :)

I'm certain all would go absolutely perfectly with your pregnancy and delivery, but you have to consider what would happen if, God forbid, it didn't. All is fine with her child now, but I have a friend who went into premature labor, spent 5 weeks in the hospital on bedrest, and still delivered her baby 10 weeks early. The cost of her hospitalization, the emergency delivery, and 6 weeks of NICU care for her infant, have her calling her little one the "million dollar" baby. I remember her telling me that one ambulance transport of her infant alone was over $10,000.

Didn't want to be discouraging, but the sad reality is that we're all dependent on that miserable insurance. June '09 will be here before you know it.

Good luck!