Giving birth can be exciting, scary, magical, painful, and many more things all at once. But what it can also be is expensive, especially for people in the US.
A California-based content creator Sarai Jones turned to TikTok to share how much childbirth cost for her. In a video that racked up close to 40 million views, she broke down the price, revealing how much she was expected to pay and how much of it was covered by insurance, all of which many netizens found mind-boggling, to say the least. Scroll down to find the video and their reactions below.
Childbirth can be not only stressful but expensive, too
Image credits: Jonathan Borba / Pexels (not the actual photo)
Sarai Jones broke down the price of childbirth in a video that went viral
Image credits: krazysarai
So I had a baby 2 months ago and I just got the hospital bill. Let’s see how much it costs. I have the breakdown on my computer. I vaginally delivered him and I was induced. And yes, I got the epidural.
Image credits: krazysarai
First thing is the labor room/delivery room, $13,900. I got another bill that says ‘room and board’, semi-private. That was $19,111.
Image credits: krazysarai
Next charge is anesthesia, $2,181. Pharmacy $1,291.33. Other diagnostic services – that was $1,001. What is that? Please, explain. The laboratory was $862. And then I got a charge for the emergency room which was $411.
Image credits: krazysarai
So all those together $38,757.33. That hurt more than the contractions. Thank God for insurance. They covered a lot of it. My amount due is only $1,418.26.
Image credits: krazysarai
I’m not done. I have like 3 more charges.
Next bill is from US Anesthesia and they charge me $1,356.68. But after insurance, that was only $135.67. My last 2 charges are vaginal delivery postpartum care, and that was $6,793. The last final charge was the cervical dilator, which is the balloon that they put up there to induce my labor. That was $385. After insurance – $651.16. We love insurance.
Image credits: krazysarai
The grand total added up to more than $47k
Image credits: krazysarai
Image credits: krazysarai
In total, it cost me $47,292.01 to have a baby. But after insurance, I only had to pay $2,205.09. Wow, thank you.
Sarai’s video was watched close to 40 million times on TikTok
@krazysarai in case you were wondering how much it costs to have a baby💀😅 #birth #baby #hospital #hospitalbill #pregnancy #fyp #momtok ♬ Monkeys Spinning Monkeys – Kevin MacLeod & Kevin The Monkey
Image credits: Mikhail Nilov / Pexels (not the actual photo)
Having a baby in the hospital can cost the new parents tens of thousands of dollars
Becoming a parent can be one heck of a roller coaster. From trying to get pregnant, to finally receiving the good news, from dealing with swollen ankles and morning sickness, to experiencing the pregnancy glow and the little one kicking for the first time; there are plenty of ups and downs before the parents-to-be even get near the finish line and arrive at the delivery room. And finally, after the delivery—more complicated for some than for others—they are left with this precious bundle of joy, as well as a hefty bill, on their arms.
Some people might be shocked to learn that new parents often have to pay tens of thousands of dollars for the birth of their little one. But in the US, it’s not unheard of for moms and dads to be thousands of dollars in debt, even if insurance covers most of the hospital bills.
According to Forbes, the costs of childbirth in the US vary quite significantly from state to state, with the expenses being the highest in Nebraska and lowest in Michigan. But the average cost of giving birth in the US stands at $18,865, which includes pregnancy, delivery, and postpartum care. For members of a health insurance plan, the out-of-pocket price might shrink to just shy of $3,000 dollars.
Image credits: Jonathan Borba / Pexels (not the actual photo)
More than half of women in the US use private insurance as their source of payment for the delivery
While it’s true that childbirth costs tend to differ from state to state, studies found that they can even vary within the same hospital. A comparison of hospital online price and telephone price for shoppable services revealed that the price for vaginal childbirth, for instance, that people received over the phone often differed by as much as 50% or more. There were reportedly five hospitals with prices online set at $20,000 or more, when the price they provided over the phone was less than $10,000.
Knowing the price one might be expected to pay is important for everyone, but it is arguably crucial for those who don’t have an insurance plan in place. Though statistics show that only a small share of mothers cover the expenses of childbirth fully themselves. Data from 2021 found that more than half (51.7%) of mothers in the US giving birth that year were covered by private insurance as their source of payment for the delivery, roughly two-in-five used Medicaid, and only 3.4% used other types of coverage, while 3.9% of mothers self-paid for the delivery.
In her TikTok video, Sarai shared that the larger share of her childbirth bills was covered by insurance. But for some of her followers, even the roughly $2,200 she was left to pay was too large of a sum for childbirth, as many shared that they only had to pay for parking on the day they gave birth themselves.
Fellow netizens shared their thoughts in the comments
