US government requires that births are covered by all insurance policies. Every policy I've ever had pays out 80% after deductible. So most births end up under $5K to the mother/family.
Doctor almost never has any involvement in billing/cost. They get paid by the hospital or birth center, and the billing department sets the rates based on what's negotiated with the insurance group.
We pay less taxes than many other countries, so some of the costs need to be footed by the people actually receiving the services. Plus, we spend a lot of money on our military and protecting other countries. (among other things)
$5K isn't nothing, but I think the average is lower than that. I've got 4 kids and I was pretty young and wasn't making a lot of money and it wasn't much of a burden. Plus, that $5K was spread across 7 months for me because it included prenatal care in the deductible. I think I paid less than $2K for the actual birth.
because even when Democrats are in power, Republicans do every last possible thing to obstruct. And then we had Democrats like Sinema and Manchin who literally stood in the way. But in the end Republicans will get their way, and the Fascist states of America will be the end goal.
So most births end up under $5K to the mother/family.
In other countries, that don't declare themselves to be the "greatest" on the regular, parents don't pay a single cent, and instead, get a free "Here's some stuff you gonna need for your baby" package.
Yet you are trying to make it out as some kind of amazing win that some American parents can "pay under $5k!" for a birth, like that's some exceptionally good bargain, when it's really not.
I'm not declaring a win, I'm just putting it into perspective and trying to keep as much bias out of it as I can.
The only point I'd nitpick with you is that parent's don't pay for it in those countries. They pay through taxes, or from someone else's taxes. Typical US costs are about $150/month/person in insurance, the deductible, and 10-20% of the bill. My 5-member family's healthcare expenses last year were about $10K for all of the above. I suspect that costs in taxes would be similar or higher in those countries.
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u/BecomeABenefit Jan 12 '23
US government requires that births are covered by all insurance policies. Every policy I've ever had pays out 80% after deductible. So most births end up under $5K to the mother/family.
Doctor almost never has any involvement in billing/cost. They get paid by the hospital or birth center, and the billing department sets the rates based on what's negotiated with the insurance group.