Cost of Pregnancy Without Maternity Insurance

I don't know about hospital and OB costs...but I do know that if you choose a licensed midwife in a free standing birth center the total cost is around $4500.

Everything I paid for was on a self pay plan. The doc office total was 2850. Each sono was 160ish, blood work was no more then 200 before ( I opted out of all the non mandatory tests), the blood work in the hospital for myself and child was no more then $125. Epideral was $1k, hospital one night stay was $2850. Each non stress test was $70 and I think my doc had me do them just to have me do them. I had 6 I think. I had high blood pressure before pregnancy and it was fine during so I didnt have any complications and made sure I was outta of the hospital at the 24 hour mark because UCH charges $700 each night after and thats an expensive uncomphy hotel stay. So roughly 8000 and I would have paid more if I had insurance -- BUT had I had complications it would have been sooo much more. You just never know whats going to happen and thank God mine all went good0 cause insurance was not an option I could afford anyways,

Have you considered shopping around for different insurance that includes maternity? That just seems outragous for a rider for maternity. It might be beneficial to change insurances during your pregnancy. Your premiums might go up, but maybe not as much as the rider. I'd shop around or if nothing else, there is the health departmenet. R.

I took natural labor classes for 3 months and thought we'd be in and out of the hospital in a matter of days. Instead we were there for 8 days and I was on meds 7 of those days. No other women in my family has ever had complications or a c-section and I had every complication there was along with a c-section. My daughter is 8.5 months old and we're still paying for her birth. I think the total was around $40,000. Prior to my daughter's birth I called the hospital that I was delivering at to talk about costs. The person I spoke to told me that a woman without insurance could have a baby there for around $4000. That is without any complications though. I would get the maternity insurance without hesitation because you really never know what could happen.

I've never heard of a maternity rider but I had medical insurance with a very high dedcuctible ($2500). We had to pay out of pocket for all of the fertility procedures. I have a 5 month old boy. I don't want to scare you, but my labor and delivery did not go as planned and my medical expenses ended up in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. A "normal" vaginal delivery would have been around $5k-$6k and a c-section would have been around $10k. So I don't know if a medical rider replaces regular medical insurance or if it is in addition to medical insurance- the important thing is that you have some type of coverage. God bless and I hope this helped!

Not to scare you, but complications can happen and it can be costly. My son was born 8 weeks early, only stayed in the NICU for a month (was suppose to be 2 months) and I was in ICU as well. Our total was probably over $200,000. I never saw all of the bills from specialists and others. I was healthy, but developed pre-eclamsia. I had so many complications the whole time, flu (hospitalized), severe morning sickness, bedrest for bleeding. I know I was extreme, but it was so much money. We only paid, wait for it, $10, for my first OB visit. Now, that was 9 years ago, and it would be much higher now.

Luckily, I was on a group policy. Is that not an option? I would be worried without insurance, but that's how I am. I can't imagine how we would have done it without insurance. And, I know that moms without insurance aren't always given the best care. I overheard things. Just another perspective. I was an older mom, 34, and had lots of things go wrong. He is fine now, no complications or permanent issues.

My first pregnancy was through a birthing center in Lutz (Labor of Love) It was a wonderful experience and we had a healthy little girl who is 2 1/2 now....The total cost was around $4000... We had insurance but still the costs are much lower if you have a natural birth in a birthing center vs. a hospital. I would suggest that you get the Health Insurance for either situation only because you never know what could happen before during or after the birth..... It's peace of mind and you don't want to be stressed out during your time of pregnancy....

Good Luck...

i did a project on this and it would be more expensive not to have the rider. the hospital visit alone costs nearly $10,000 then add in the OB and blood work. If i remember right, my figure was around $15,000 for the doctors, bloodwork, and birth - and that's if there are no complications. then you have clothing, and the nursery costs.

Labor of Love birth center is far, far cheaper than all of that. I believe their total came out to $4,300 out of pocket without insurance if you paid it all off before 36 weeks and was only slightly higher if you didn't. That's for the midwife, whatever blood work they do, most of the classes (some are extra) and the birth itself. It's something to consider.

I think it would only be cheaper if you had a very uncomplicated pregnancy, w/little intervention. FOr instance only one sonogram. I had to have a quite a few last time. Then I had to stay in the hospital a week w/complications at delivery, and I know that bill was over 9000 just for the stay and that was at the insurance adjusted rates. And if you were to have to be hospitalized during the pregnancy for anything it could go up! Of course you do labor of love like one pp mentioned and everything could go smoothly and you could spend a lot less =). And actually my after pregnancy complications may have been covered w/out a maternity rider, I don't know since that wasn't an issue.

Hello E.
We are self-employed and do not have the benefit of group insurance. If you are in the same boat-I suggest you read below. You can't compare group insurance to the individual market because they are nowhere the same thing. I am now 23 weeks along and chose not to carry Maternity. After consulting my ob and the hospital it is going to cost less than carrying Maternity. It didn't make sense. Our premiums would have sky-rocketed. I'm not sure where you would plan to have the baby-but I had my first at St. Joseph's Women's (and that's where I'm having my 2nd) You can contact them and they can fax you a sheet called the Maternity Cash Discount agreement. My ob costs are $2000 flat-that counts all visits. A normal vaginal delivery and 1 night stay for St. Joe's cost $3,300. If I have any complications-my insurance covers that. Now that does not count the Anesthesiologist, Pediatrician, Pathologist, Neolatologist and Radiologist-they all bill separately. After contacting their offices (which the hospital provided all that info on their sheet), it looks like $###-###-#### more. I hope this helps. By the way-someone suggested changing insurances during pregnancy. Please be aware that no-one will cover it if you are already pregnant and most insurance companies have waiting periods for coverage.

My insurance sends me a copy of the bill to show what they paid. The hospital fee was $14,000 the NICU 3 night stay was 14,000. I was very happy to have coverage. This does not include the costs for the Doctor visits (I paid a 25 co-pay for the entire thing), or anethesia fees. My co-pay at the hospital was 150 a night (that depends on the insurance you get, my last child was 500 a night.)
Hope this helps
P.