Paying for childbirth before childbirth

[disneyrocks]

I had to pay for both of my wee ones up front. I actually liked it because there are so many expenses and doctor copays when the baby comes that it was just one less thing I had to worry about. With baby #1 I did not have it payed off before I went into labor and they did not refuse me. I jsut kept paying after she was born for a couple months. I saved up the money before baby #2 to pay for all my hospital and doctors fees because I knew money would be so tight

[pittsburgh24]

In 1992, I didn't have insurance (my new boss didn't provide it and I couldn't afford the cobra from my last job). I went through the mid-wife clinic at my hospital. I had to pay $1200 before my son was born (made monthly payments). I wound up with a c-section and no mid-wife but, the business office at the hospital did their paperwork magic and I paid nothing additional. They applied for medical assistance to pay for the intensive care and all subsequent care for my son too (since I wasn't working at the time due to being pregnant)

[VivaciousJewelz]

Wow- reading some of these other stories, I'm glad I didn't have to worry about anything.

Because of my insurance- I had a $500 deductible which I ended up meeting in the first two months b/c of my lab work and ultrasounds. Luckily, I have a health flex account, so that was already taken care of. I didn't pay anything out of pocket and my OB billed my insurance company after I had the baby.

[beth119]

I had to pay my part up front for 2 out of my 3 kids. The last one, we didn't HAVE any co-pay for the OB, other than office visits. Better insurance with that one!

I am having surgery Thursday, and had to pay my portion to the DR up front.

Thats just the way it is. You wouldn't go into McDonalds and order a big mac and then ask to pay after you ate it... so why expect the DR to be any different?
Does it suck? Sure. Do they do it for a reason? Yes.

[rbunnymom]

Originally Posted by foggierbard9 I got a letter today from the OB office. It says that I need to pay them my portion of the fees for childbirth before I ever even have my baby. I am 6 weeks pregnant. They want the portion that I will be responsible for after insurance paid now. This amount doesn't include c-section, circ, any complications, or the hospital fees, just their fees. Has anybody ever paid for childbirth before they ever went in to have the baby?

Yep, and my "babies" are 21 and 23 now. I had c-sections so the additional was paid after they were born.

My gyn now asks for copays/deductibles to be prepaid for any surgery (outpatient or otherwise)

It isn't that unusual from my experience.

[gctattoo]

Yes, I did. I didn't have insurance so I went to a local sliding scale clinic. They had complete prenatal and delivery fee amounts for each level of income. Ours was 33% which amounted to $2,085-- about $500 of which was the delivery fee. The paperwork said that the entire amount was to be paid in full by the 6th month of pregnancy. It took us three months to pay it off. When we made the final payment, I asked the receptionist if there would be any other fees due for the rest of the pregnancy. She said yes, not realizing that we had in fact paid the entire amount off. When I pointed it out, she looked shocked and said that she'd never seen anyone actually get it paid off before the birth. And some not at all.

The best part of this long story is that I qualified for medically needy from Medicaid and received a check back from the clinic for the delivery charge which Medicaid ended up paying once it kicked in. That was a happy day.

[#1RobThomasfan]

Ok I must be crazy but I've never heard of this...My insurance paid and I paid nothing. I certainly never paid anything up front. Thats crazy. I guess it must be standard practice but I am amazed..

[mnnice]

With DS1 I never paid anything before, after, or during childbirth (he was an vaginal birth in a hospital).

With DS2 I chose to have a CPM attend homebirth. We paid about 1/2 of the midwive's fee before the birth and the other 1/2 a week or two after DS2 was born. Our insurance paid nothing towards a homebirth. We also had an extra well child check in the doctors office (which was covered by insurance) because the family pactice doctor had not visited in the hospital per the way things usual go. My homebirth cost only $1500 total (which would have been about the same as the copays in a hospital birth with the insurance we had at that time). We got a discount for paying by a certain week.

[cantstopshopping]

Wow...I must have had pretty good insurance, because I never paid a dime!! I know I now always complain that we have to pay 100% at any regular doctors office visits for anything, but with hospital stuff, our insurance is fantastic for that!

[434Teresa]

I had to make payments on mine all threw the time I carried my twins..Thye know what and how much your insurance will pay most of the time before they even file with them so they knoa what your part will be and want to get it if they can...so many people these days dont ever pay after their insurance does unless they sew for the money so they like to get it ahead of time.. if you dont agree with the total call your insurance and find out how much they pay on what and then talk to the doctors office about your total.