"The royal birth cost $15,000. The average American birth is billed at $30,000."

[applegrove]

The royal birth cost $15,000. The average American birth is billed at $30,000.

By Sarah Kliff at the Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/07/23/the-royal-birth-cost-15000-the-average-american-birth-is-billed-at-30000/

"SNIP...................................



The $15,000 figure comes from estimates of how much one would have to pay to deliver in the Lindo Wing of St. Mary’s Hospital, where the Duchess of Cambridge gave birth to a son on Monday. This is expensive for the United Kingdom, but, here in the United States, it would actually be a pretty great deal!

“The average total price charged for pregnancy and newborn care was about $30,000 for a vaginal delivery and $50,000 for a C-section,” Rosenthal reported, “with commercial insurers paying out an average of $18,329 and $27,866.” That data comes from a Truven Analytics report that recently looked at the high cost of pregnancy in the United States.



...................................SNIP"

[JeffHead]

1. That's because we have the best healthcare system in the world...

You want the best, It's gonna cost ya BIG TIME!

[applegrove]

2. It is because most sectors in your health care system are private. Public health care keeps costs

down.

[JeffHead]

3. Damn I forgot

[penultimate]

4. How do people w/o insurance have babies?

$30k is a years salary for a lot of people (more than years salary for a lot of people too)

[SunSeeker]

8. You pay for it through your premiums.

A woman in labor can't be turned away from a hospital. And if she has no health insurance, she's probably judgment proof.

[d_r]

13. they charge $30k

but insurance pays $18K. So if you don't have insurance and are going to get debt collected, they are putting down $30K.

[indepat]

5. Seem to recall the OB-GY for all pre-natal care and the delivery and five days in the hospital

for both mother and baby totaled some $500 in 1960 and not much more for our second born in 1962.

[lastlib]

6. yabbut, since then, we've double the number......

...of malpractice attorneys in the delivery room............

[Doctor_J]

9. malpractice insurance adds .01% to the cost of health care

But thanks for bringing the Fox viewpoint to the discussion.

[BlueJazz]

14. That surprises me. From what I've heard from the Talking Heads, I've always thought...

....it was maybe as high as 15-20 percent.
My Bad. As a physicist, I should have known better...

Oh. Thanks !

[Doctor_J]

15. The talking heads are all right wing liars and propagandists

stop listening to them. Where are you a physicist?

[BlueJazz]

16. Retired (From Australia....Dual Citizen...born in Australia)

[Doctor_J]

7. The extra 100% goes for insurance CEO bonuses, shareholder dividends,

lobbyists, and clerks and lawyers to try to avoid paying. and doctors jacking up their fees to pay off their med school loans. Worst system in the history of the world.

[applegrove]

10. Yup. Not to mention all the suppliers who jack up the cost of the medical staff's

scrubs to $100 each when it only costs a few dollars.

[alarimer]

11. We desperately need an NHS

Lower cost, better outcomes.

Why anyone is opposed to socialized medicine is beyond. Well, I guess they think insurance companies (who provide nothing of value).

So I give you

"Go Ahead and Die" by the Austin Lounge Lizards.

[Safetykitten]

12. They had coupons.