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.
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