
A hospital charged a woman $39.35 for “Skin to Skin” after a C-section (2016) - chenster
http://www.vox.com/2016/10/4/13160624/medical-bills-birth-delivery
======
tyingq
A side effect of the crazy insurance system.

It's a charge for the extra nurse, but the level of specificity required for
billing doesn't allow for a normal line item like that.

You would think, for example, that "contact with nonvenomous marine animal"
was already crazy specific, and didn't need further breakdown, right? Nope.
[http://www.icd10data.com/ICD10CM/Codes/V00-Y99/W50-W64/W56-/...](http://www.icd10data.com/ICD10CM/Codes/V00-Y99/W50-W64/W56-/#W56.22)

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itchyjunk
This is a post from [2016]

The hospital and various people working in the industry have explained the
reasons. This story went out of proportions because everyone was busy being
outraged and no one wanted an explanation. The father himself tried to calm
people down by saying he wasn't outraged and he doesn't find it unreasonable
but that too was ignored by some media outlets.

“During a caesarean, many people become shaky, nauseous, uncomfortable, even
faint. These are normal physiological reactions. In order to facilitate skin
to skin in the OR, an extra nurse needs to be available to assist. And before
people scream that ‘there’s a nurse for the baby’, there is, but that nurse
has other responsibilities in the OR. They aren’t either holding the baby or
twiddling their thumbs. So yes, an extra nurse is needed.” [0]

“Only in the case of a C-section birth is an additional nurse brought into the
operating room,” the statement said. [1]

\-----------------------------

[0][https://blogs.babycenter.com/mom_stories/why-you-might-
get-c...](https://blogs.babycenter.com/mom_stories/why-you-might-get-charged-
for-skin-to-skin-after-a-c-section/)

[1] [https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/06/business/how-much-is-
it-w...](https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/06/business/how-much-is-it-worth-to-
hold-your-newborn-40-apparently.html?smprod=nytcore-iphone&smid=nytcore-
iphone-share&_r=1)

~~~
nuovoanno
In most (?) European countries giving birth is completely free, there is no
bill that you have to pay at all; with or without c-section and independently
from the number of nurses and/or doctors that are assisting you

~~~
dogma1138
It's not free, it's covered by either taxes in countries with a single payer
system like the U.K. Or Franace or your mandatory insurance in countries
without one like Germany or the Netherlands.

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FLGMwt
Billing in the US is insane.

I know we're pretty adjusted to not knowing how much going to the doctor is
going to take out of our wallet, but that's ridiculous considering how
important to us that is just about everywhere else (e-commerce, Bank fees,
phone bills).

Can't find the reference, but I read that general practitioners barely even
know how much _they 're_ going to be reimbursed for care. It takes their staff
an average of three back and forths with the insurance company to settle on
the "appropriate" coding and billing for anything of a "moderate complexity"
visit or above.

Shameless plug mode:

My employer (Rally Health) has a provider search and cost transparency tool
you can access if you have a UHC health plan at
[https://connect.werally.com](https://connect.werally.com) . It has uses
information about your plan to estimate cost for procedures and even multi-
stage treatments.

To be fair this doesn't really solve the problem of unnecessary complexity
behind the scenes of healthcare which are actually responsible for driving up
costs, but it does help consumers in the current state of things.

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sorokod
How did the hospital come up with that number, i wonder. Why not 98.99 for
example?

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devoply
11,000 to have a baby, I could buy a decent used car for that.

~~~
johan_larson
$250,000 was the total cost I saw somewhere to raise a child to adulthood. So
$11,000 is just the beginning.

~~~
devoply
it's about a mil for a child born today if you account for inflation. imagine
having a million dollar baby. Imagine how luxurious your life can be without a
child.

[https://www.todaysparent.com/family/million-dollar-
babies/](https://www.todaysparent.com/family/million-dollar-babies/)

"Ward pegs the all-in cost of raising a child to 18 in the U.S. at around
$700,000, or closer to $900,000 to age 22, which is a more realistic picture
for today’s families."

~~~
FLGMwt
It is interesting to see the numbers increase _also_ because of the growing
definition of "adulthood".

