A video showing the cost of childbirth for a woman in California has gone viral on Tik Tok. People are surprised to hear the fees being told in it. It is well known that having a child in America is not cheap. The US allows both natural and C-section births. The US topped the list of the most expensive countries to give birth in 2017, according to data from the International Federation of Health Plans.
CBS News reported the cost of giving birth in various states in the United States in 2020, citing hospital pricing data. The cost varied greatly across states but was well above the national average of $10,000. According to statistics, hospitals in California charge mothers an average of $26,380 to give birth to their child, which is 75% higher than the national average.
At the same time, everyone knows that hospital expenses are very expensive. Health insurance may cover a large portion of these expenses but still bill itself thousands of dollars in the cost of delivery. All this is surprising to the people of many other developed countries. In many countries the cost of giving birth to children is low or even free – such as in Italy or the United Kingdom, where the government pays for care in public hospitals. Linguamarina, a TikTok user, posted a video detailing her experience in a California hospital from the start of labor to returning home.
He told that except for one important thing, his delivery was done comfortably. It took only 20 minutes and she returned home the next day with her newborn. She and her husband were given food and a private room while they were in the hospital. He then received a bill two weeks later for more than $36,000, which was the cost of the birth of the child and one night’s stay. Out of which he had to pay $2,200 after insurance.
The video quickly went viral, garnering more than 14 million views as of Tuesday morning, two days after it was posted. It also got 1.8 million likes and 33,000 comments. Users from countries other than America have expressed surprise at this expense. He has questioned how do low-income people pay for it?