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Preparing For Pregnancy: Costs of Pregnancy

© Lori Ramsey

Each year the costs of prenatal care multiplies astronomically. Since 1994 I’ve gone through three pregnancies and have been shocked each time at the costs. From 1994 to 2000 the costs of prenatal and delivery have tripled. Before you get pregnant is the time to consider how these costs will be met – cash, insurance or Medicaid.

Insurance policies vary – be sure to check yours out to see just what is covered. While some policies will cover prenatal care 100% - others will have deductibles and co-pays. Check with your physician and hospital. Every single physician and hospital I’ve dealt with has required that all co-pays and deductibles be met by the 7th month of pregnancy. So if you have insurance, be sure you have the funds available to cover the deductible and co-pays.

If you are paying cash, you might luck out and find a physician and a hospital who will set up a payment plan. However, there again, all the ones I’ve dealt with – with the exception of one hospital – wanted the entire prenatal and delivery bill paid by the 7th month of pregnancy. Keep in mind, if you are paying cash, that sometimes situations arise that will call for extra testing and/or care. For example, with my 3rd pregnancy I ended up in preterm labor and spent 6 nights in the hospital – on constant monitoring and medications. Thankfully I was covered with insurance; however, if I were paying cash this would have devastated our finances. And with my 2nd pregnancy I ended up having a cesarean due to a breech presentation of my daughter. This was certainly unplanned for and very costly, too.

Another thing you need to plan for is the pediatrician – they will want to be paid after the birth and their fees vary greatly depending on whether or not the baby is healthy at birth, needs a circumcision, etc.

The best advice for paying for a pregnancy with cash is to be prepared. We always hope that our pregnancies will go smoothly and everything will work out – however should something come up and deem the pregnancy a high risk one – the cost for prenatal could double and triple.

If you fall in between not affording insurance and not having enough cash – perhaps you qualify for Medicaid. This is the government’s form of free insurance. I do know that their guidelines for pregnancy Medicaid are much lower than that for the regular healthcare – in other words you can have more income and still qualify. If you fall into this category – phone your local Department of Human Services office and see if you qualify.