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Comment by dandersh | Hacker News Reader

When our youngest was born the nurses (incorrectly) thought his blood sugar was low and had him transferred to a different hospital via ambulance. We were able to fight and get the $2000 bill waived on account of the fact that it was a needless trip. Unfortunately my wife spent the night alone as I was with our son.

On a somewhat related note in the span of 10 years the cost to us to deliver our kids doubled. Same hospital too.

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This was a serious discussion my wife and I had when we were deciding to have a kid. The maximum out of pocket for both of us could easily wipe out my savings.

It felt really fucked up to have this discussion in what is supposed to be a first-world country. Like we were talking about alternatives like hiring a midwife or a doula because it would be cheaper. I don't even think that would be a discussion in most second-world countries.

The whole system is outrageous.

You probably won't hit the out of pocket maximum unless there is a complication. When my wife and I had our first, I was making decent money, still the hospital wrote off the entire bill through their financial assistance program.

In most of the rest of the western world, the cost of childbirth is mainly the parking fee and snacks from a vending machine while waiting.

In Sweden we stayed at the hospital a few nights with both our sons. The parking was the biggest cost and food for me (my girlfriend got the food for free but I didn't).

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