I'm having identical twins, classified as high risk. The cost is mind-boggling. I've already paid $7000+ out of pocket, and they have not even been born yet. Costs are mostly related to having to do ultrasounds all the time, and one MRI.
I called my insurance to ask what I could expect to pay assuming a normal pregnancy after being amazed at the cost already billed. They suggested I a) call my doctor's office and get each billing code for each procedure expected b) call their billing office to get each cost for each c) call my insurance with these numbers and get out of pocket expected costs. I just can't imagine trying to compare costs between multiple hospitals or OBs.
I tracked medical costs fairly closely and noticed things like a quick procedure would get 2 separate coded procedures. Someone I know familiar with medical records said that kind of thing was commonplace. So for a laymen, it seems ridiculous to anticipate costs even for routine things.
They should be required to hang a sign outside L&D, "Half a womb still pays for the full room." just so you don't have a(nother) heart attack when the bill arrives in the mail.
See the Chinese ultrasound study. It's a study that is impossible to perform in the USA because it wouldn't pass ethical review. Ultrasounds were proven to cause structural changes in the brain. One can reasonably assume that structural changes are bad.
I'm generally against anything but procedures that are absolutely necessary, and the ultrasounds and MRI certainly were not voluntary on our part. Personally, from all the research I have gathered it seems like ultrasounds are quite safe, although I am not an expert.
As for taking action, I had the same dilemma. Before we knew anything was wrong, one of the doctors ordered an MRI based on a hunch. I did not want to do the MRI unless it gave us some sort of information we could act on, and abortion was out of the question, legally and morally speaking under these circumstances. But we did it anyway, and at least the information has prepared us for what to expect.
See: Geriatric Pregnancy/Advanced Maternal Age Pregnancy (Pregnancy after the age of 35).
Failing that, record yourself telling the hospital staff (or get it in writing) that any out of network charges will not be payed unless expressly signed for ahead of time.
The term commonly used here is “Balance Billing”, though that refers to a variety of “surprise” bills.
Very unfortunate. This makes the research into whether your preferred hospital/OB-associated-hospital is in- or out-of-network rather useless to some degree.
The insurance options (4 different providers over the years, 3 BIG players in the game, one self-funded) I've had so far in my fatherhood haven't offered a stepped plan, either (they were all or nothing).
Yes, folks outside the US, we here in America try to time pregnancies over bullshit details of how our insurance plans work. At least anyone who's thought about it does. Those who haven't get a nasty surprise, and pay (up to) double.
Agreed. Also, being born even on December 31 2019 qualifies you for having another dependent in your household for the entire 2019 taxes, so it's a double whammy.
A due date after September-ish ensures you're only paying the medical treatments/screens/hospitalization/etc for that year and that year only (vs, as you mention, a due date that happens potentially anytime between Jan-August).
It's tricky. Unfortunately.
And almost everyone where some medical professional, somewhere in the chain of hospital visits, happened to be out of network - someone you had no idea would be involved. Examples would be where the doctor sent lab results to another doctor for analysis, etc.