Should a Mom Who Gave Birth in Her Car Have a Cheaper Hospital Bill?
One of the wildest stories out of Florida today fortunately has nothing to do with which candidate will win big there in Tuesday’s presidential election. Rather, it has to do with a kind of childbirth story usually reserved for the big screen.
Paula D’Amore gave birth to her daughter, Daniella, while in her Jeep Grand Cherokee parked in the fire lane outside of Boca Raton Regional Hospital this past April. Her husband caught the baby’s head before a midwife and a team of nurses made it out to the vehicle to complete the delivery.
This is why, D’Amore says, she was shocked when the bill she received from the hospital months later totaled more than $7,000 — and included hospital facility fees for labor and delivery. D’Amore says these charges seem less than fair since technically, she delivered her baby while parked outside the building. She thinks a bill of that size makes sense for a woman who had labored for an extended period of time and given birth in a hospital bed, but not her.
The hospital, however, says otherwise, writing in a statement emailed to Broward County’s Sun Sentinel, “The hospital appropriately bills for the medical services and care it provides and has determined that the level of care provided and billing were appropriate in this instance.”
D’Amore is most likely not alone in feeling shocked about hospital bills post-delivery, as it’s more expensive to give birth in the United States than anywhere else in the world. The New York Times reports that for a vaginal delivery, commercial insurers pay out an average of $18,329 and $27,866 for a cesarean section. Even after insurance coverage, most people still end up paying about $3,400 out-of-pocket for labor and delivery services.
The implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), aka Obamacare, has done much to help women and families who face steep hospital bills for labor and delivery costs. Before the ACA, maternity insurance coverage (including prenatal care and labor and delivery) was not mandatory in health insurance plans, and less than 12 percent of all plans included this coverage. Under the ACA, all health insurance plans must include this kind of coverage, and pregnancy can no longer be considered a preexisting condition for which a woman could be denied coverage. The average monthly premium for Obamacare-compliant health plans, including maternity coverage, is $285, with an average annual deductible of just over $3,500.
D’Amore, who has been disputing the hospital charges for nearly seven months, admitted, however, that she may eventually have to give up the fight and pay the bill. She told the Sun Sentinel that she even set up a payment plan in case. At the very least, D’Amore is hoping for some sort of apology from the hospital.
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