The cost to bake a cupcake

As much as I’d like to quit my job and spend more time with Curly, I can’t.  Money is the #1 reason.  And in this economy,  I feel very very grateful to have the job that I do. I’ve so far survived several rounds of layoffs, and I even had a member of my team laid off while I was out on maternity leave.  But maybe even more importantly, my employer provides excellent health insurance which typically pays out 90% for allowable procedures and appointments with in-network providers.  No fertility coverage unless you are straight, married and using your husband’s sperm, but for pregnancy its covers everything.  I even had a choice of 2 birth centers that were in network.  I never had to fight them to cover an ultrasound or a medical visit.  Yesterday,  I went through my records and did some totals and I’d like to share them with you in the hopes that someone will find it useful.

	actual cost	my cost
hospital	8654.28	718.54
OB	3462.00	245.97
midwife	5007.00	429.70
lab	83.00	3.12
nt scan	1350.00	53.71
	18556.28	1451.04

Note that these are the charges for my pre-natal care and delivery only.  I saw the OB from 8 weeks until 30 weeks and the midwives after that. It does not include the charges for my chiropractic care, my trip to the ER for morning sickness, or my neurology and physical therapy appointments after the birth.

Take a look at the differnce between the actual cost and the amount I had to pay.  It is staggering. I cannot even begin to imagine what a financial burden it would be to face pregnancy with poor insurance or no insurance.  Even Strawberry’s insurance (from the same major provider, but a different plan) would have ended up costing us nearly twice as much out of pocket (they pay 80% in network).  I don’t really feel informed enough to make an educated opinion about the currently proposed legislation on the reform of the US health care system.  I don’t know that nationalized health care is the answer. But I do know that the system we have is incredibly biased and needs to change.  It disgusts me to know that there are so many people out there that are one accident or illness away from financial ruin.