In my previous post about the cost of delivering a baby, I noted that the hospital and doctors had charged a total of $24,520 “gross” before the insurance company discounted for reasonable and customary charges. We continue to receive various notices from the insurance company for additional fees.

Just a couple of days ago, another insurance notice came in for a total of $5,213 for line items like “nursery”, “drugs”, 3 “laboratories”, and “auditory exams” that were submitted to them by the hospital. Actually, our baby never spent time in the nursery (he bunked in the same room with us per hospital policy, but maybe that counts as the same thing). Running total in charges so far: $29,733.

The interesting thing about this bill is that the insurance company won’t be paying for the $5K in charges, and neither will we. Apparently these charges are covered in some sort of global or all-inclusive or “case rate” reimbursement.

Like in my other post, I still can’t figure this out. Either the hospital/doctors are charging actual costs, and the insurance companies are paying “less” than they should, or the hospital/doctors are charging extra amounts above reasonable costs, and the only people paying them are those who are uninsured. Or maybe I’m still misunderstanding how this whole system works.

Regardless, I’m definitely starting to see why it is so many people end up in bankruptcy due to medical costs.

It’s been about a month since our baby boy was born, and the bills and insurance statements from our delivery have started to roll in. We’re currently on a Cigna PPO plan, so we (thank goodness) only pay a small fraction of the costs below, but it’s been eye-opening to see how much the hospital and doctors charged for our 60-hour (2 1/2 day) stay.

What I’ve always wondered is, are people who don’t have insurance charged the full amounts below since they aren’t eligible for the “reasonable and customary charges” discount? If so, that seems scandalous. Just look at how much the hospital stay cost. I still can’t imagine how that charge is even justifiable.

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Posts more relevant for this blog will be posted in the near future, but our baby boy decided to arrive 9 days earlier than expected, on 7/11. So, we’re learning to be new parents, trying to rest, and welcoming him to the family (sleep, eat, poop, rinse, repeat). Thanks for your understanding!

Switching gears a bit from the usual stuff and back to personal finance….today starts my official maternity leave from work! I’m happy about it (and simultaneously still nervous about the upcoming big day a couple of weeks away). Some of the people I work with are envious, and some single guys especially think I’m going to essentially be on some sort of multi-month relaxing vacation (!!), as I’m the first in my group to have a baby. This is what you get when you work in Silicon Valley, I guess. The last few weeks have definitely been tough. Not being at 100% capacity from being tired, working weekends and long hours…I can use the break for sure. I’m also lucky in that the company I work for has a pretty amazing maternity leave policy as far as US companies go.

I haven’t written much about the pregnancy, but compared to most of what I’ve read, I’ve had smooth sailing so far (knock on wood). Still, there’s plenty to speak of, personal-finance-wise. My hubby and I took a preparation class in which we split briefly into groups of women and men and took 15 min. to talk about worries and concerns in small groups. For a lot of the men in my husband’s group, the financial aspect of having a new baby was a real concern for them, and yet two of them also highly recommended the infamous Bugaboo stroller as a must-have. Not sure what a $900 stroller does that one that costs 1/3rd or 1/4th as much doesn’t, but it seems a bit steep if you’re concerned about your finances.

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