At the time, I called every hospital and doctor's office in the area to see if I could get an idea of price. That was a lot more difficult than it should have been -- as it seems that most hospitals have no idea. After a lot of digging, my calculation was that it would cost $8,000 out of pocket. This was also with the assumption that we would carry medical insurance on my wife (but not maternity) so any complications would be covered.
We had a relatively uneventful birth with no complications. After tallying all the bills, it turns out that was a pretty accurate estimate. Here is what we were billed for. I hope this is helpful to some of you out there who are in the same boat.
The first line is the "fake" price you see on the bill. I hope that no one really pays this.
The second line is the insurance negotiated price. This is what insurance uses to figure your co-pay.
The third line is the cash price. This is a 50% discount on the retail price -- and oddly enough -- also cheaper than the insurance negotiated rate.
Location: Raleigh/Durham, NC, USA
| Anest. | Hospital | Lab | OBGYN | Path | Specialist | Total Result | |
| Sum - Retail | $1,404 | $9,223 | $237 | $3,677 | $80 | $2,874 | $17,495 |
| Sum - Insurance Negotiated Rate | $1,123 | $5,979 | $92 | $2,157 | $60 | $2,051 | $11,463 |
| Sum - Cash 50% | $702 | $4,612 | $119 | $1,839 | $40 | $1,437 | $8,748 |
No comments:
Post a Comment