Maternal Health
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Severe Maternal Morbidity Increased by 25% from 2017-2021 among those with Employer Sponsored Insurance
Read more: Severe Maternal Morbidity Increased by 25% from 2017-2021 among those with Employer Sponsored InsuranceThe CDC defines Severe Maternal Morbidity (SMM) as ‘unexpected outcomes of labor and delivery that result in significant short- or long-term consequences to a woman’s health.’ These outcomes are largely preventable and are an important indicator of maternal health care quality. The CDC reports that SMM has steadily increased in recent years, and the consequences…
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The Price of Childbirth Can be Twice as High Even in the Same Hospital
Read more: The Price of Childbirth Can be Twice as High Even in the Same HospitalAccording to HCCI’s data, the price of a hospital admission for childbirth among birthing people with employer-sponsored health insurance (ESI) varies by a factor of three across hospitals within a local area. Even within the same hospital and within the same type of delivery, some births cost twice as much as others. Different prices for…
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From Prenatal through Postpartum Care, it Cost More Than $24,000 to Have a Baby on Average
Read more: From Prenatal through Postpartum Care, it Cost More Than $24,000 to Have a Baby on AverageTotal Spending Averaged $24,336 across the Prenatal, Childbirth, and Postpartum Periods among ESI Enrollees HCCI has highlighted the high cost of childbirth in the United States, but delivery is only one component of the full financial cost of having a baby. The cost of prenatal and postpartum care may cause people to forgo appropriate services,…
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One-Third of Births Occurred by C-Section in ESI and Medicaid in 2020
Read more: One-Third of Births Occurred by C-Section in ESI and Medicaid in 2020Caesarean sections (c-sections) are often life-saving procedures that can prevent injury and death among birthing people and newborns. At the same time, when they are not medically necessary, c-sections may have higher risks to babies and birthing people than vaginal births. Monitoring rates of c-sections among birthing people is an important component of efforts to improve…
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Average Payments for Childbirth Among the Commercially Insured and Fee-for-Service Medicaid
Read more: Average Payments for Childbirth Among the Commercially Insured and Fee-for-Service MedicaidIt is well-established that the rates hospitals and physicians are paid to provide health care services are significantly lower in Medicaid than in private health insurance. In this brief, we provide new data on this payment gap in the context of childbirth, an especially relevant area of care since Medicaid and ESI together cover the…
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The Price of Childbirth in the U.S. Tops $13,000 in 2020
Read more: The Price of Childbirth in the U.S. Tops $13,000 in 2020As HCCI has previously documented, the price of childbirth in the U.S. is higher than in many other countries. When prices are high, patients with health insurance pay directly through coinsurance (i.e., cost-sharing calculated as a percent of what their insurer pays for the service) and over time, as higher prices charged to insurers are…
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Birthing People in the U.S. Pay Nearly $2,000 Out-of-Pocket to Have a Baby
Read more: Birthing People in the U.S. Pay Nearly $2,000 Out-of-Pocket to Have a BabyThe birth of a child is momentous for any person and family. New parents may face a range of challenges, including a lack of paid family leave, the rising costs of childcare, and potential health-related complications for the birthing person and new baby. In the midst of this major life transition, parents also face new…
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As COVID-19 Hit, Birthing People Spent Less Time in the Hospital for Delivery
Read more: As COVID-19 Hit, Birthing People Spent Less Time in the Hospital for DeliveryThe COVID-19 pandemic has impacted Americans in a myriad of ways, including their use of the health care system for both COVID- and non-COVID related services. In this brief, we explore the ways in which the first year of the pandemic affected people for one of the most common hospital services – childbirth. In 2020,…
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Modern Healthcare: Insurer-provider wrangling limits bundled maternity growth
Tags: Maternal Health
Read more: Modern Healthcare: Insurer-provider wrangling limits bundled maternity growthHCCI’s research on childbirth spending among the commercially-insured was featured in Modern Healthcare. From the article: “Childbirth admissions averaged $13,811 for people with employer-sponsored insurance in 2016 and 2017, ranging from $8,361 in Arkansas up to $20,000 in New York, according to the Health Care Cost Institute.” Insurer-provider wrangling limits bundled maternity growth | Modern…
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NYS Health Foundation: Variation in Health Care Prices: The Problem Starts at Birth
Tags: Maternal HealthRead more: NYS Health Foundation: Variation in Health Care Prices: The Problem Starts at BirthSummary The price of childbirth in New York City varies multifold, depending on where a woman delivers. This variation in price across boroughs, and across providers within boroughs, might make sense if it corresponded to higher-quality care. But higher prices do not always signify better quality. This report examines variation in what is paid for…