It was 1964 when they had me and dad was in the Navy in VA. They went to the base hospital and told me it was less than $10.00 for my birth.

Last time my parents cleaned out their “shoeboxes” they found the receipts for my father’s birth. It cost my grandmother a few hundred dollars at the hospital. Crazy! I totally agree it’s not fair! 🙂

By the way Henry is just so flippin’ cute!

Oh man…I do not have $6000 and I’m due in 4 weeks. Thankfully, my Canadian insurance covers the upcoming birth and all my appointments. Your cranberry smoothie sounds delicious!

Yup, my bill will be 0! Love free health care in Canada!

Cranberry sauce in smoothies is such a genius idea! I have so much leftover!t

Glad you had a great holiday weekend! We just got the itemized bill for our 2nd daughter…$7,400!! Just for the delivery, and that was a little more expensive because it was a Vbac. It’s crazy the cost of medical care. The night in the hospital, we only stayed 24 hours was $320. I wonder when will the high costs ever stop.

My parents paid out of pocket for my natural birth (they tried for a home birth but had to transfer to the hospital) back in 1980, and it was around $300. They had an awesome doc who let them pay $30 in advance each prenatal visit (they were poor grad students at the time), so it was paid off before I was born.

And I can’t IMAGINE paying 6 grand out of pocket! With our insurance, my total cost, including all prenatal visits, hospital bill, etc. was around $500. It’s one benefit of a government job – great health insurance! I would never choose to be self-employed solely for that reason – my parents are self-employed, and they spend 5 figures a year for the crappiest, cheapest health insurance available (super high deductibles, very few things covered, etc.) and they have no health issues at all – it’s just based on their age (lower 60s).

I’m happy to live in a country where health insurance is an acquired right, for every citizen. USA really need a universal health care…

the price of medical goods and services has increased much more rapidly than other services, so its not really accurate to use a generic inflation rate to compare the two (although…maybe that is the point you were trying to make?). you’d also need to compare your insurance coverage, lengths of stay, etc. etc.

That’s amazing!! What a fun thing to find!

Hi Caitlin: I see you eat a lot of soy products and was wondering if this is okay for a healthy diet? My natural health doctor advised I avoid soy like the plague while pregnant, and otherwise to only eat it occasionally if it’s a dish I just love, for example stir fry veggies with tofu. I have read that 90% of the soy in the U.S. is GMO and not healthy. Here’s an article about soy proteins that maybe you would like/add to your research about soy products. http://www.naturalnews.com/025513_soy_food_soybeans.html What do you think about consuming soy as part of a healthy diet? I am too afraid to eat it regularly! My sis had breast cancer at 38, so I get nervous about this stuff! I used to be a vegetarian and consume all sorts of soy-related meat replacements, but I’m not so sure we were meant to eat this way – doesn’t seem natural now that I do consume local grass-fed meats and raw milk products.

I spent 90 days in the hospital, so our bills were significantly higher than that, heh. I’m not sure exactly what they charged us (I’ve never really asked), but I think insurance or something covered a good chunk of it.

I think a better comparison is what you paid out of pocket v. your parents. They paid $200, or about 10%. I’ve never had a kid, so I don’t know if most people here pay more or less than 10% of the bill.

I wish I had saved more of my childhood memories! I remember in high school getting irritated with how much stuff I had been holding onto and threw away a ton of old notes. I wish I could reread those now!

That’s why i love living in the UK… my wonderful, long birth cost me £0! I couldn’t fault the NHS when i gave birth, i almost felt like i was at a private hospital the way i was treated. It’s very interesting though to see how things have changed in the US over the years.