Estimating the Cost of Pregnancy

Are you interested in having a baby? If you are, you may be curious as to what the cost of pregnancy will be for you. In all honesty, there is no way to determine the exact amount, as there are a number of varying factors that must be taken into consideration. With that said, it is more than possible to estimate the cost of pregnancy. In fact, it is easy to do so.

Those who are insured will find it the easiest to estimate the cost of pregnancy because all that is needed is a simple telephone call to your health insurance provider and a small amount of research. As for the research, you will need to estimate the average cost of prenatal care and delivery, which will be touched on below. As for contacting your insurance provider, you will need to determine what percentage of delivery, prenatal care and complication costs your health insurance provider will cover. The remaining percentage, including any co-pays, will be your responsibly.

As for the cost of pregnancy, you will find that these numbers do fluctuate, but a recent study was released by the March of Dimes on June 12, 2007. In that study, it was concluded that the average cost of vaginal deliveries without complications is $7,737. Cesarean-section deliveries had an average cost of $10,958. The March of Dimes study also concluded that it was more expensive to have a baby in the Northeast and the cheapest to do so in the South. In addition to the cost of delivery, hospital care for the child immediately following birth is necessary. If complications arise, the cost will increase.

As you can see, having a baby is not cheap. It is also important to note that the above mentioned figures do not include the needed nine months of prenatal care. As for the cost of prenatal care, it will depend on a number of different factors. One of those factors is frequency of visits. Most pregnant women have between 13 and 15 prenatal care visits. As for the costs, the average price range is between $100 and $300, depending on the type of visit. Lab work and other similar tests will increase the cost of a prenatal visit, bring it closer to the $300 mark. When estimating the cost of pregnancy prenatal care, alternating is a good idea. For example, plan on seven traditional cheaper appointments and seven more expensive appointments, where lab work is needed.

Although a large number of women who do become pregnant intend to do so, there are even more women who are faced with unplanned pregnancies. Unfortunately, many of these women do not have adequate health insurance, if any at all. Although the above-mentioned figures, provided by the March of Dimes, can serve as a basis, it is also important to prepare for the worst. Did you know that the average cost for a preterm or a premature baby is $51,600? This figure, also provided by the March of Dimes, is from 2005. On average, preterm babies spend 13 days in the hospital. This is an extra pregnancy cost that needs to be taken into consideration.

As stated above, the cost of pregnancy includes more than just the cost of delivery. Unfortunately, these additional expenses are not always taken into consideration. An additional expense that should also be accounted for is that of time off from work. Many women qualify for disability, but many states and companies only pay a small fraction of the money that would have been earned.