$160,000 bill for having our baby (pics)
 

She was born a few weeks early and we love her beyond words. She is perfect in every way but needed help breathing for the first day because amniotic fluid got in her lungs. Because she was early they wanted to keep her in the NICU for 9 days. Again, there were no surgeries or any procedures of any kind other than putting her on oxygen for a few days. The docs and nurses at Cedars Sinai were amazing.

Yes we both have insurance but she did not have maternity coverage so most of that is not covered. We thought we woud be out of pocket about $15k for the delivery if everything was normal and it was until she went into labor early. We thought the final bill would be like $50k.

Took a few months to get the bill but it arrived yesterday. We just laughed and agreed it was a bargain @ $160k. We agreed we would do it all over again even if there were a few zeros added to the total.:)
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congrats :)

Congrats on the new addition to your family. She is beautiful.

Sweet.

Cute baby, and I love you're attitude about the bill...she is one lucky little girl...

good to hear that it went well - congrats on your baby! :thumbsup


and congrats for living in the land with the most fucked up health care system ever - lol.

Gongrats and thank God she is healthy and looks like her mother.


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Beautiful baby...congratulations! :thumbsup

Also, I feel that the hospital bill is outrageous and disgraceful. :mad:

Anyway, I wish you and your wife all of the joys of parenthood.

ADG

you can prolly negotiate that bill down to a more reasonable $100,000 - $120,000 by calling the hospital billing dept.

Got that right, Young couples both insured have a huge bill to overcome.


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That is right you should bitch it down to 10k at the most! They will take it also drag it the hell out get some low payment schedule.

Congrats on the baby.

My girlfriend spent 15 days total this past June in the hospital with the birth of our last child, due to an infection that resulted from the C-Section surgery. She basically sat in the room hooked up to fluids for 2 weeks.

While most of it was covered, the bills now total over $60k to the insurance company and about $6k out of pocket. It's crazy the way the pricing the hospitals get away with charging. But like you said, it we had had to pay it out of pocket ourself...it would have been well worth it.

Yes I am going to do that and will get it down much lower than $100k I promise you. I am RELENTLESS when i set my mind to something.

the system may be fucked up but the actual medical care received is the best available.

Congrats on the baby. How do you both have medical insurance and not have maternity coverage?

Congratulations!

Yes, are sooooo thankful for the people at Cedars Sinai. Even though there was nothing wrong with her she did need help getting the fluid out and of course the respirator for a few days. The NICI was very sterile, very good security, the best equipment available on planet earth, best docs, nurses, etc etc. I give them a 12 out of 10. Would I be this happy if we delivered her in a country with socialized medicine?

Well you wouldn't have gotten a bill.

your country is sooo fucked up. lol

No, you will receive the same quality in Canada or Europe, but for free, if you pay your taxes. The price mentioned above is a rip off, simple like that, its stealing made legal.

BUT congrats on your baby, man, she is beautiful.

Congrats!!:)

Congrats and worth every penny :)

Not sure if you would be this happy or not but nothing wrong with the hospitals up here (infant mortality rate is half of the states for instance) and the bill would have been $0. $160k is just absurd from my point of view but as long as you are happy paying it, keep smiling.

Good luck and congrats :)

Ditto :2 cents:

the infant mortality rate has nothing to do with the quality of health care and more to do with the overall health of a nation's population.


:2 cents:

i don't want to start this discussion all over again, but these babies survive over here all the time too. and i worked in the medical industry for 7 years - 5 years of that for Siemens Medical which is next to GE the biggest manufacturer of medical devices.

it's just that over here people are required to have a (in most cases) affordable health insurance - all costs are covered with that and you walk out of the hospital with your baby and a zero Euro invoice.

not that the system is perfect, but i prefer it way over a $160k bill :2 cents:

now back to congratulating...

Well yes of course in Norway we would have been happy delivering her. Norwegan people are amazing.

Hahahahhahahhahahahahahaha.

You're stupid.

WOW!!! Congrats!

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Dual insurance plans seemed worthless.

My baby momma got free delivery for Akon who was all cracked out. They both stayed in a single for like two weeks..all fooo freeeee!!! Same hospital too.....

She has some type of government insurance...the one for black people
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.....just a dramatization...

relax. i didn't say the u.s stands alone in quality healthcare, i said we provide the best available, it's not a contest.

Don't want to get crazy in this man's post about the greatest day of his life, but check this out:
http://www.who.int/whr/2000/media_ce.../en/index.html

The U.S. ranks 37th out of 191 countries. And we are charged more than anybody on Earth. Just sayin'...

Congrats Greg. Happy to hear everything went well. Fatherhood is the best thing ever. Welcome to the next phase of your life and the best thing that ever happened to you ;)

now that's an adult comment.

do some research on what the infant mortality rate is all about.

No, he's not.


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that's a report on the SYSTEM, not the care. I made note of that in my comment when i stated "the SYSTEM may be fucked but the level of care is ..."


moreover-

Cute baby man. :)

So what happens if you don't pay?

She is soo cute. Very pretty looking kid.

They repo the kid.

I'll tell you what you colossal dumbfuck - if you can explain to me how being 33rd in infant mortality in the world goes hand in hand with having the BEST health care in the world I'll STFU and admit you are NOT dumb.

Ready? Start googling!

How about 6 unsuccessful IVF cycles, a 7th successful one, a premature birth, 3 week ICU for baby and 1 week for mother for the grand total of ?0.

Not necessarily a personal experience, but a true one nonethelesss :2 cents:

Social healthcare in one of the finest private clinics in the world, for free.

When I hear stories like this and the support for the American system, it just make me want to be sick to be honest.

Anyway, congrats on the new addition.

congratulations!


I remember hearing about how many americans go bankrupt over medical bills...

thank God I'm Canadian

Congrats!

congrats, but ouch on the bill.

no thanks, not my style to argue on a message board, it's retarded. i simply stated the quality of health care received is the best. i never stated it was SUPERIOR or available to all or the system is best.

the imr being what it is is more an indicator of how unhealthy americans are, which is not the topic of this thread. the imr reveals our lack of preventative care, unhealthy eating and bad habits.

i don't really care if you call me names or what you think of someone called dyna mo at a place called gfy, your tone displays more about you than me.


happy holidays!

Usually that's when they are uninsured. I'm still wondering how two people can have coverage that doesn't include maternity.

Then consider yourself lucky that you're somewhere that getting sick won't cost you anything because its not going to change anytime soon.

:pimp:pimp:pimp:pimp

thank god for pakistani health care.

here's the thing though - for a LOT of Americans health insurance is EMPLOYMENT based

even if it isn't tied to your employee benefits - you still have to make money to have it

what if you hit financial trouble and you bill becomes due? what if you loose your job?

it's like saying - take no risks cause if you do and have health problems you DIE.

I believe that countries WITH free health care are more capitalistic than those without.

Congrats on the birth of your daughter.

We went abroad for IVF and the birth of our daughter. We would have been waiting FOREVER to just get on the waiting list in Canada.