Aubrey is now over 2 months old and I have just finally settled the last hospital bill. Insurance companies are a huge pain. I probably spent over 15 hours on the phone dealing with it all. For my Canadian friends, the cost of everything will be shocking. It definitely was to me when I moved to the USA. I have my opinions on healthcare here.... definitely not favorable... but we will keep those out of it.
As an accountant, I love numbers and so here is the official final tally for all of the baby-related hospital bills:
Ultrasounds and lab work prior to delivery: $883.96
Epidural: $1,008.00
OB charges for the delivery and prenatal appts: $2,900.00
My 48-hour hospital stay: $6,433.13
Pathology report on my placenta: $195.36
Daily NICU doctor visits: $8,265.25
2 failed attempts to insert a PICC line: $1,520.76
Insertion of PICC line: $1,500.03
Oxygen Saturation Study: $250.00
And the big one....
The hospital charges for Aubrey's NICU stay: $65,642.52
Total cost: ** $88,591.01**
Not quite "100 grand" but pretty darn close. And she was only in the NICU for three weeks. Some babies are there so much longer.
Luckily, I had good insurance through my job that had a yearly deductible and then everything was 100% covered.
Not so lucky was the fact that Aubrey was in the NICU over the new year which meant TWO deductibles had to be met. So, out of that $88,591.01, we had to pay $8,000. Still painful, but we are blessed that I had a good job and we had savings.
Even though it was ridiculously expensive, I feel like the cheesy Mastercard commercial when I say having her really is priceless. She was worth every penny.
Her college fund just might be smaller because of it :)
4 comments:
Wow! That definitely makes you grateful for insurance... no matter how many problems it has! Thanks for sharing- it definitely puts things into perspective!
How do people have more than one baby? You would seriously drain your bank account every time. One of those moments I am definitely proud to be Canadian...love the States....especially on cold days like today, but my babies are free!
Aubrey is adorable by the way, and I am glad that she is doing well!
You think you are done with baby hospital bills... and then they send another one. I have been SO frustrated with insurance and hospital bills! In fact, this has been on my mind lately because I received a bill for KORVER's birth just last week. Thats right, two and a half years ago! Of course I really didn't have to pay anything, the insurance/ doctors just messed something up again. What a pain! Anyway, Chris calculated out how much we would have had to pay had we been in your situation with those numbers and because our insurance is not good- it wasn't pretty. Birth's sure put a dent in your wallet. It is crazy. I couldn't believe how much the NICU costs!
Ok I know its pricey...But there are pros and cons to two different types of insurances based on country. I have heard horror stories from my Canadian friends and horror stories on this side too. On the defense of the doctors who work so many hours and have to pay so much overhead...it is not cheap, and honestly as much as they are gone and work and insurance for them , they are not compensated. My little defense tid bit...and the doctors in Canada that have guest lectured here admit they get their health care done here. So there are opinions on both sides...Both can agree the cost of life and health comes with a price tag from doctors who sacrifice time and family either from the gov't or private. ;) xoxo
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