Woman who gave birth in her car gets $7,400 bill for hospital delivery room

[Boiler 46,414]

Paula D’Amore was never expecting to give birth in the backseat of her Jeep. A few hours after she felt a contraction on 7 April, she loaded into the car and her husband started driving to the hospital, only to feel a burning sensation as the car pulled into its driveway.

“Never in a million years would I have thought this would happen,” D’Amore said.

Her husband ran into the hospital to tell the staff his wife was in labor. As he came back and opened the door, the baby began crowning and he was forced to deliver the head. Moments later, a few nurses joined at the car and a midwife helped complete the delivery of her newborn daughter, Danielle.

Only after giving birth in her car was she taken to a recovery room because all the labor rooms at the Boca Raton regional hospital were full.

Given that she gave birth in her car, D’Amore was shocked to receive a hospital bill that charged her more than $7,400 for a delivery room. She is also disputing an additional $4,000 bill for a time her daughter spent in the neonatal intensive care unit.

“I laughed,” she said when she got the bill. “You gotta be kidding right? How do you charge for something that you didn’t do?”

D’Amore and her husband switched to a $5,000 high deductible insurance package that she had saved up for in preparation for the pregnancy, so her expenses will be capped at $5,000 and she has not disputed payment for other services, including the midwife. But she refuses to accept the hospital room charges given that she gave birth in the car.

“I cannot swallow seeing that they have the audacity to charge $7,000,” D’Amore said.

Labor and delivery are among the most expensive healthcare costs in the US. According to a 2013 study by Truven Health Analytics, the cost of childbirth in the US has tripled since 1996. Truven also found the average price of pregnancy and newborn care for a baby was approximately $30,000 for vaginal delivery, and $50,000 for a C-section. Delivery costs alone are an average of $10,000 and over more than $15,000 for a vaginal or C-section respectively, according to the International Federation of Health Plans (IFHP).

After working with counsel provided by her husband’s employer, she took her grievances to the hospital who said they found nothing wrong with the charges after two reviews.

“Boca Raton Regional Hospital has reviewed the matter, understands the concerns of this patient, and has previously attempted to resolve the outstanding balance concerns with the patient,” Thomas Chakurda, vice-president of marketing at Boca Raton regional hospital, said in a statement. “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. We take all of Mrs D’Amore’s concerns seriously and are willing to review them further.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/nov/04/woman-childbirth-in-car-hospital-bill-florida

[The Nature Boy 7,659]

Thank you Osamacare

[Dakine10 5,452]

Thank you Osamacare

Yeah, cause labor and delivery used to be so cheap before Obamacare.

[Voice of Reason 10,298]

Abortion is so much cheaper.

[millefleur 5,047]

All I can say is.....Florida.

I don't understand why the cost of health care in the US is a partisan issue. Can't everyone see that there's something seriously wrong with this system, at its core?

[The Nature Boy 7,659]

Yeah, cause labor and delivery used to be so cheap before Obamacare.

Well in comparison yes. I thought Obama care was going to make health care affordable

[millefleur 5,047]

Well in comparison yes. I thought Obama care was going to make health care affordable

Obamacare was addressing the symptoms of the problem, not the root cause. That's why it has problems. The health care system in the US is one that needs a major overhaul from the ground up in order to be fixed....Obamacare was never that ambitious because I'm not sure we can just pass a single law that will magically fix everything. The whole issue is multifaceted, involving pharma companies, insurance companies and privately owned practices/hospitals.

People were pumped about Obamacare because it was at least something trying to address the problem. I don't think anyone is 100% satisfied with the outcome, even the people who support it. Anyway, Obamacare haters often don't even have a better solution.

My dad is an old school conservative and former health care practitioner...he hates Obamacare and thinks it's awful. So, I asked him: "Why are prices so high in the US when it comes to medicine and health care?" His answer: "Well, America's health care system is funny!" and.....that's all. He provided no solution or anything, he complained about the insurance companies and tried to blame it on them, as if the practitioners are just mere victims of a bigger game being set by Big Insurance and Big Pharma. It's so multifaceted it's easy to just keep shifting the blame onto another major player in the game....this is why O'care barely scratches the surface of fixing anything.

[Dakine10 5,452]

Well in comparison yes. I thought Obama care was going to make health care affordable

The primary driver of our health costs is the cost of the drugs, medical procedures, hospital equipment and things of that nature. The cost of those things is increasing exponentially. It's not because we are sicker or use more health care or have better health care than other countries. Those costs are increasing because the providers and suppliers can charge whatever they want.

If Obamacare wanted to fix the supply side of health care, they could have. It actually was one of the early goals before all the lobbies got involved. In the end, despite major changes in many aspects of health care coverage, it's predictable that costs continue to increase because they only tried to fix one side of the problem and they didn't even do that well.

The health care industry as a whole is very fragmented in the US. Health insurers have very little negotiating power compared to other countries. They actually have little influence on what the medical industry pays. In many countries, whether there is single payer or health insurance, the government is the main (or only) 'negotiator' involved. That's why Americans pay up to 10 times more for prescription drugs than anyone else. If Cigna tries to negotiate that kind of price, the response would be take a hike. So basically they all just follow medicare.

What health insurance companies have got very good at is passing that cost on to the consumer. The high deductible, consumer driven plans are very effective at passing the cost of health care on to me and you. You pay a lot in premiums and deductibles before the insurer has to pay out a dime. The health insurance industry was trending this way long before Obamacare. It's a proven model for insurance companies.

[millefleur 5,047]

The primary driver of our health costs is the cost of the drugs, medical procedures, hospital equipment and things of that nature. The cost of those things is increasing exponentially. It's not because we are sicker or use more health care or have better health care than other countries. Those costs are increasing because the providers and suppliers can charge whatever they want.

If Obamacare wanted to fix the supply side of health care, they could have. It actually was one of the early goals before all the lobbies got involved. In the end, despite major changes in many aspects of health care coverage, it's predictable that costs continue to increase because they only tried to fix one side of the problem and they didn't even do that well.

The health care industry as a whole is very fragmented in the US. Health insurers have very little negotiating power compared to other countries. They actually have little influence on what the medical industry pays. In many countries, whether there is single payer or health insurance, the government is the main (or only) 'negotiator' involved. That's why Americans pay up to 10 times more for prescription drugs than anyone else. If Cigna tries to negotiate that kind of price, the response would be take a hike. So basically they all just follow medicare.

What health insurance companies have got very good at is passing that cost on to the consumer. The high deductible, consumer driven plans are very effective at passing the cost of health care on to me and you. You pay a lot in premiums and deductibles before the insurer has to pay out a dime. The health insurance industry was trending this way long before Obamacare. It's a proven model for insurance companies.

In addition to that, the prices are deliberately manipulated so that by the time you go to pay your co-pay or deducible or whatnot, you think "Wow! I saved so much by having the insurance!" This was one of the factors my dad was bickering about: the pricing is often inflated to ridiculous levels just for appearance and that's all. The insurance companies aren't even paying all of the pre-insurance, walk-in price. It's all a behind-closed-doors negotiation of smoke and mirrors to make us think we're getting a good deal.

I got an MRI here done in Russia for $50.00 at a top private clinic (same day service without insurance)....I googled the uninsured walk-in price for one in the US, and the average came up around $5,000.00 for a single MRI. Then I asked my dad: so if you have insurance, do the insurance companies actually pay all of that for a single MRI? Nope, he said. They do some kind of behind-the-scenes negotiation and agree on a price totally hidden to the consumer, and then pass on the co-pay to the insuree. However, if you are the unfortunate person who just walks-in insuranceless, you will end up with a $5,000.00 bill. The whole thing is just madness....it's the opposite of a competition driven free market, so I don't see how the free market Republicans can support it. I don't see how anyone can think the system works unless you actually work in this industry and benefit from its insanity.

[The Nature Boy 7,659]

The primary driver of our health costs is the cost of the drugs, medical procedures, hospital equipment and things of that nature.

Well not to be Captain Obvious, lol?

[Póg mo 1,749]

Employer provided health insurance really irks me the most,because it is essentially a ponzi scheme. Older workers run the risk of being shafted, just so companies can cut costs.

[millefleur 5,047]

Employer provided health insurance really irks me the most,because it is essentially a ponzi scheme. Older workers run the risk of being shafted, just so companies can cut costs.

It has many, many problems. Another common one is keeping people on as contract workers from contract to contract or making sure their hours are just under 35 a week in order to avoid providing benefits. Sure, there are good employers out there who do provide benefits and care about their workers, but such employers seem to be getting scarcer in certain industries.

[Póg mo 1,749]

It has many, many problems. Another common one is keeping people on as contract workers from contract to contract or making sure their hours are just under 35 a week in order to avoid providing benefits. Sure, there are good employers out there who do provide benefits and care about their workers, but such employers seem to be getting scarcer in certain industries.

I can't entirely blame companies for trying to control costs. The company I work for has about 3,000 employees and offers really great insurance, but with premiums rising at least 3% every year, I can't imagine that my company can absorb costs indefinitely.

[Boiler 46,414]

No system can be perfect, best you can hope is something not too bad.

With the amount of resource spent on it the US should be capable of something much better.

Too many fingers in the pie, and Obamacare was just about tokenistic papering the cracks.

At some point it will become unavoidable but I am never ceased to be amazed how long that can be put back.

[millefleur 5,047]

Yep, it's the inevitable and perpetual kicking of the can down the the road and passing on the problematic baton to the next in line so they don't have to be the ones responsible for dealing with it. Or it's the never ending blame game, as I mentioned earlier.

The insurance/pharma/general health care industry does employ a lot of people, and indeed if some overhaul style reforms were made it's highly possible some people would end up jobless or making less money, and I think that is part of the fear of change. But ever-increasing prices like Pog mo mentioned are bubbles and bubbles must burst at some point.