Stressing out about how to pay for childbirth and delivery of your new baby? Don’t miss these 7 tips for how to cut the cost of having a baby.
It’s no surprise that having a baby can be incredibly expensive. Between the doctor’s bills, the hospital bills and all of the things a new baby needs, the costs can really add up quickly. In fact, according to this article on Parenting.com, parents pay an average of $8,802 per child in prenatal, delivery-related and postpartum healthcare charges alone.
Thankfully, just because other parents are paying this much (and more!) to birth their babies does not mean that you have to do the same. It is possible to slash these costs dramatically, saving yourself thousands of dollars in the process, and it probably won’t even take you long at all. You just have to know how.
Whether you’re pregnant currently or you hope to be soon, now is the time to start thinking about how to cut the cost of having a baby. Don’t blindly accept over-inflated hospital bills, thinking that you don’t have a choice. Use these seven tips to save big.
Just because you have insurance doesn’t mean that your pregnancy is covered. The insurance I had with my second child didn’t cover pregnancy-related expenses at all, and the insurance I had with my third child did cover pregnancy–but not at the hospital I wanted to deliver at.
Take the time to thoroughly look over your insurance coverage before you get pregnant to make sure it covers everything you think it does. Then, call your insurance company and talk to a representative to make sure you are understanding your policy correctly and not forgetting any important details.
Don’t just consider the uncomplicated birth you hope to have either. Make sure you are covered in case the unthinkable happens. Will your insurance cover you if you have a medical emergency and need to stay in the hospital for an extended period of time? What if your baby has complications? Will your baby automatically be covered from birth or does he or she need to be added ahead of time?
While calling the insurance company is rarely fun, this is one phone call you won’t want to put off. The sooner you check your coverage, the more time you’ll have to shop around for different insurance or to investigate other options, if needed.
Even with insurance, the price you’ll pay for prenatal care and labor and delivery can vary widely depending on where you go and who you see. Don’t choose your doctor or hospital without doing a little research first. Consider location, credentials, and recommendations from friends, but be sure to look into the price differences as well.
Call around to various doctor’s offices and ask questions such as:
Don’t have insurance? The cost may not be as bad as you think. Call the hospital and doctor’s office ahead of time and ask if they have any available discounts, such as a “no insurance” discount, a “cash” discount or a “pay in full” discount. If they say they do, be sure to get as much information as you can. Write it down so you don’t forget and so you can hold them to it later.
As someone who often hasn’t had good insurance coverage, I can tell you most places are willing to work with you! Every time I’ve called and asked about discounts, the other party was happy to provide one, and the cost was always comparable to what it would have been if I had had insurance. Hospitals and doctor’s offices don’t typically advertise these discounts, however, so you’ll never know unless you ask.
Unless you are 100 percent certain that you’ll be able to save up enough money to cover all of your pregnancy-related medical expenses before baby arrives (in which case, good for you!), you’ll also want to ask the hospital and doctor’s office if they offer any sort of payment plans. Again, most places won’t advertise these; you’ll have to ask.
If they do, ask questions such as:
When sitting in the doctor’s office, especially as a first-time mom, it can be very tempting to simply go along with everything the doctor says without question. After all, she has a medical license; you don’t. The problem with this, however, is that after seeing hundreds of patients over several years, many doctors begin running on routine–making decisions based on habit, rather than what you personally need.
Your doctor may routinely recommend three ultrasounds, but you really only need one. He may offer additional vaccines or genetic screenings, which you may want to opt out of. Personally, when I mentioned to my doctor that I was feeling unusually tired, he automatically wanted to do blood tests for anemia and thyroid issues, even though my symptoms didn’t fit. I politely declined. You can too, if you feel the tests are unnecessary.
While you would never want to skip necessary tests in an effort to save a few bucks, there may be times when your doctor recommends certain tests more out of routine or as a precaution than because you really need them to keep yourself or your baby healthy. Don’t be afraid to talk to the doctor to find out what’s really necessary and what’s not.
While a natural, drug-free birth may not be right for everyone, it can save you thousands of dollars if you’re up for the challenge. I didn’t have an epidural with any of my children, and my first two were well over nine pounds!
With the cost of epidurals typically ranging from $1,000 to $2,000, opting to go without one can save you a significant amount of money. Plus, did you know that women who do have epidurals are more likely to have C-sections? Or that women who don’t have epidurals often have quicker, easier recoveries after birth? A quicker, easier recovery means a shorter, cheaper hospital stay and less money spent on pain medications after the fact.
Does your hospital consider a one-day stay to be 24 hours from the time you check in, 24 hours from the time your baby is born, or when the date on the calendar is one number different? This is one question most mothers never think to ask, and yet it could potentially save you thousands, especially if you pull up to the hospital at 11:30 p.m. like we did!
The more questions you ask, the less likely you’ll be to end up paying for something you didn’t need to. Call the hospital ahead of time and ask questions such as:
Just because babies are completely adorable and worth every penny does not mean that you should pay more to have one than you need to. Use these seven tips to save thousands on your pregnancy-related medical expenses and put those extra funds aside for later. Trust me, you’re going to need them!
1. Check Your Insurance Coverage Before You Get Pregnant
2. Call Around to Compare Rates
3. Ask About Available Discounts
4. Ask About Payment Plans
5. Skip Unnecessary Tests and Procedures
6. Opt for a Natural Birth
7. Know How the Hospital Bills
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Thank you very much for your advice, in fact, we were very surprised how different prices and services can be in different clinics. You are right, if a balanced approach to all issues, even to the purchase of children's clothes, you can save a lot of money
I’m considering an unassisted home birth solely because we are working class Americans. We don’t qualify for government aid, but don’t make enough to pay for basic care...and we pay over 500 USD a month for health insurance. Before everyone jumps us about not caring about our child or my health, please understand how desperate we are. We’ve tried to budget, we tried to save before pregnancy, but we got pregnant when I had a medication change. I considered abortion without my family because we couldn’t afford a child, but I knew it would devastate my husband if he ever found out. I decided to keep the child, but knew we would struggle to pay for him or her. If anyone wants to know the state of the American working class, here it is. Women in America, married and both spouses working 40+ hours a week, paying over 500 bucks a month for insurance, are considering the option of dying in childbirth because of the potential bankruptcy/financial ruin of childbirth here. I remember crying I. The steps of our house because we have no heat and we learned baby would be born in February. When asked what to do from other Americans in the same social class...the answer was try to use a space heater (expensive to run) and wrap the baby in bunting. America is not the land of opportunity anymore.
I am in a similar situation. We have a $6000 deductible and pay over $500 a month for insurance. Both of us work full time and we are in a real financial pickle. My mom has terminal cancer and I was helping take care of her and I hope the hospital will let us make payments because there is no way we will be able to come up with that money before November when baby comes.
@Jen, you cannot be serious. You seriously think hospitals try to make people stay longer? First, most people go into health care as a career TO HELP people. Keeping babies in the hospital longer than needed is the opposite of helping people. Second, there are length-of-stay goals for all hospitals, hospital units, etc. The shorter, the better. There is actually a financial interest in having shorter length of stay, not longer. If people stay a shorter time, that means they can have higher turnover & give that bed to another person who needs it. In other words, they try to get your baby out of the NICU as soon as he/she is stable, because there is another ill child waiting for care when you go home. No hospital is trying to get you to stay longer, it costs them money, doesn’t make them money. Don’t use scare tactics on websites like this that are just trying to help new parents.
It make me get more anxious... my husband is from California and i am from Spain... i think we will have the child in Spain and we don´t have to worry about all this. So scary... that some things are covered and others not.
I don´t understand why you don´t have universal health care for everybody... Not judging just don´t get it.
I cannot afford to have a child in the USA.
Great post. We just arrived US few days back and my wife is almost due.The doctors are refusing to see her.....What options do we have? We have no insurance here in US as we plan to pay cash.
I think when cutting costs it is necessary to go back to the basics, when the first human was born God didn't send a huge babies r us falling down out of the sky, or tell Adam and Eve to create a colossal registry. When Jesus was born, God didn't send him into the world with top neurosurgeons and Mary didn't use an epidural. Just because things have been invented doesn't mean that they are necessary to the child birth and child rearing process. I think that the best way to save money when having a baby is for parents to educate themselves through articles like these and watching you tube videos on childbirth. My sister opted for a home birth and things worked out fine. But if I had, had a home birth with any of my children my children and I would be dead right now. I had a friend try a home birth and not only did she have to pay the midwife but she ended up paying the ambulance fee and the hospital for an emergency C-section without insurance. So if I ever attempted a "home" birth I would sit in a clean air conditioned or heated camper or van with a bed in the back right across the hospital parking lot so that I could receive quick medical aid if things went south and at least skip the ambulance fee. I would monitor my blood pressure and heart rate and rent a baby Doppler to monitor the baby's heart rate and blood pressure also.
Great article EXCEPT for the advice to skip bloodwork on your thyroid if you don't have any symptoms. Not a good idea. You can have problems with your thyroid and have NO symptoms. Hypo or hyper-thyroidism is common in pregnancy because in the first few months baby relies solely on Mom's and if it isn't functioning properly it can lead to miscarriage. So in all honesty it's a test you don't want to skimp on despite cost.
Glad I'm Canadian!
You did not mention home birth. Among other personal reasons, I am choosing to have a home birth with baby #3 because it is way cheaper than a hospital birth. My midwife charges $3,600. Not only is it cheaper, the prenatal care I'm receiving with my midwife is better beyond compare than the care I got in a medical hospital with my first two babies. This is a great option for naturally minded, low-risk women.
When I had my daughter, at san francisco general hospital, she required 2.5 months in the NICU, which in my opinion, she could have come home after a week, maybe 2 max. They knew medi-cal would be footing the bill, so I think they stretched it out as long as possible (other mom's I talked to had the same thoughts) as they were undergoing an extensive remodel and likely needed all the $ they could get.
I received a Bill by mistake, 2.5 mos in the NICU plus all of my delivery care cost a whopping $400,000. Thank God I wasn't responsible for any of that. Omg, I can't Even imagine.