On a subreddit titled "Data Is Beautiful," one dad shared some — in our opinion — not-so-beautiful data breaking down the cost of his baby's birth via C-section from the hospital bill they received. The bill, which shares the full cost of the visit without any consideration to insurance coverage, comes from his and his wife's five-night, six-day stay in the hospital with their new baby.
"The cost of our baby's birth (C-section) in the US," the dad, user TheOnlyToast, wrote on his original Reddit post featuring a color-coded graph breaking down the costs in each category: medications, blood and lab work, hospital fees, and doctor fees.
He added in the comments: "To clarify, this is the total bill from the hospital submitted to my insurance company. Not my actual 'cost' of the birth . . . The total bill from the hospital, submitted to insurance, is $41,158.50. I'm not even sure what some of the charges are, like 'PT Convenience' or 'Nursing.' Also, we were in the 'Recovery Room' (which was just a bed behind a curtain in an open floor setting) for three hours and billed nearly $3,000 USD. . . I am not sure how much will be needed out of pocket."
Needless to say, the dad's graph is eliciting several reactions from other Reddit users regarding the cost of such a common surgery, one noting that it may have taken them a full year to pay off their own bill, but they now proudly own their daughter "outright." So that's something . . .
"I don't think we can do that sir . . . " L-O-L.
(Rub it in, why don't ya?)
Moral of the story: we all need to move to Norway to have our $40,000 babies. Or Japan, or Germany.