It’s pretty unbelievable to think that in this day and age in the United States of America, the cost of having a baby is still astronomical.
A woman named Sarai Jones posted a video on TikTok that got a lot of people talking about this important issue. Sarai had a baby two months ago and in her video, she broke down the costs because she just received her bill.
The overall total of all the bills combined for giving birth was $47,292.01.
Wow.
Sarai told viewers about the different bills she received and how much they cost.
The first one was the labor room/delivery room bill which totaled $13,900.
Her room and board bill added up to $19,111.
And Sarai kept rattling off different charges in her video, including anesthesia, diagnostics, and other services, which all added up to $47,292.01.
The total out-of-pocket cost for Sarai was $2,205.09.
She said, “Thank God for insurance!”
That’s not anywhere near $47,000, but it’s still a lot of money.
Take a look at her video.
@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
A woman named Christy Snodgrass who is a nurse and a patient and healthcare worker advocate posted a video where she explained why prices are so high for giving birth in the U.S.
Snodgrass said that the high cost, $50,000 for example, for bills is called a chargemaster price and she said, “it’s essentially just a negotiation starting point between your hospital and your insurance company.”
She then added, “Chargemaster prices are way inflated. They’re usually 300–500% more than the actual fair market value of that service. Hospitals benefit from keeping this number as high as possible so that when insurance companies only reimburse a percentage of that number, the hospital can still make a profit.”
Christy went on to explain more about this complicated process and how it all works.
Take a look.
@christyprn Hospitals VS Insurance Companies. The game where the patient always loses. #healthcarereform #patientadvocacy #patientadvocate #hospitalbill ♬ original sound – Christy, RN | Advocate
Snodgrass also posted a video and gave advice about how people should negotiate their huge medical bills.
This is very useful!
Check out what she had to say.
@christyprn A few ways to negotiate hospital bills. #healthcarereform #patientadvocate #patientadvocacy #hospitalbills ♬ original sound – Christy, RN | Advocate
Here’s how people responded.
One person said she’s planning on having her baby in her apartment because of the costs.
Another viewer shared the shocking cost of their experience.
And one TikTokker said the U.S. needs to get its act together when it comes to this stuff.
Agreed!