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Comment by joana035 | Hacker News Reader

It should not be charged at all IMHO. And it should be a right of the parents to hold their newborn in the moment they enter this world.

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OP was being sarcastic. “Skin-to-skin” contact with mum is the very first thing they do after child birth, and continue recommending for the entire stay.

there's a lot of stories / examples about this an item in the hospital bills .

You might be thinking of one story that went viral a few years ago, and was amplified by the media. It was successful at generating outrage and so became popular, but it was not correct.

It would only be one of many ridiculous charges in the US medical system. I personally think it's pretty outrageous that one has to pay for medical care while giving birth at all.

So the doctors and nurses involved should just deliver babies for free? Does the free care apply only to standard births, and then they get paid if there are complications? Or is anything involving the delivery plus anything arising from it provided for free?

The central bank prints money (partially offset by tax). Some of that money could go to basic medical care like this, as it does in most other countries.

We're currently seeing exactly what happens when the central bank money printer goes into overdrive, which is rising inflation. Maybe we shouldn't be encouraging that.

Taxation funded healthcare seems to work pretty well. It allows you to avoid the situation where individuals pay significantly more due to bad luck with their health. Plus you get to cut out the insurance companies' cut completely.

Some of the countries that implement universal healthcare could actually use some increased inflation. So it doesn't seem like a real concern in practice.

They do actually charge for supervised skin-to-skin contact after a C-section [1].

1. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/doula-explains-why-hospital-cha...

IYHO?! It's patently absurd to expect anything less

Edit: I'm agreeing with you but it seems absurd that it should have to be opinion!

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