I'm due in September and know which hospital I'll be at, since they're the only one my doctor/midwife work with. The OB office makes you pay the doctor's fee before labor/delivery. They look at your insurance and do their best to decide how much you'll owe for that fee, then break it into six monthly payments. The money is set in a "savings account" of sorts, and then taken as soon as the bill actually comes in. This means that the doctor's fee is covered, but not the hospital bill itself. I've called the hospital and tried to get an idea of what I'll owe. They were utterly unhelpful and said that they cannot give estimates before the service is completed. Is this accurate? I know that there are variables beyond my control, but I'm hoping and planning to have a natural birth and would love an estimate for just that even. I'll have a midwife and doula, so my chances of actually doing it naturally are pretty high. Even then, she could not give me the cost of a room overnight and the most basic services I'll be guaranteed to need.
My husband and I try to live without debt and want to plan now, because we'd like to pay the bill in full when it comes. Is there any way to do this, other than saving more than we think we need? Is there a better question to ask the hospital finance department?
TL;DR: having a baby and trying to figure out how much it'll cost me.
Submitted March 23, 2019 at 11:15PM by minorlyamused https://ift.tt/2OuwhON
