Pay for delivery up front?

[cherry1111]

I got an email from the hospital I am delivering at stating that they contacted my insurance company and verified my coverage and also got my estimated out of pocket costs (10%). Then they go on to say that my estimated 10% is due as a deposit before I can be admitted.

We have been lucky enough to not need any major medical attention so I'm not sure if that is normal or not. I mean isnt the 90% my insurance company has already verified they will cover enough of a deposit? Of course we will pay it so it doesnt really matter if we pay it before or after the delivery, just curious of this is normal.

[Deleted]

I'm not sure if that's normal. With DD, my share was $0 so I didn't have to pay anything. With this 2nd baby, I have a $250 copay that I plan on paying when I pre-register.

[pamela]

I don't know if I had to pay upfront, but since mine was scheduled, they brought me in for preop and billing ahead of time. I paid the whole estimated amount up front.

[speckledfrog]

We pre-paid.

[arch01]

I got a similar letter and went to the hospital and told them I wasn't pre-paying. I also told them I knew for a fact their letter was wrong and I'd owe far more than $650, and that I wasn't paying them when it made a difference on how the bills came in and where my money toward my deductible and OOP max was going to. They quickly said that it was just "suggested" that you pre-pay.

I also had them put a note in my file that they were not to come to my room and ask for payment. I knew several others who had delivered at the same hospital and they all got harassed shortly after the birth of the baby for payment; they put the note in my file but didn't pay attention to it. The nurse manager came around about 2 days into our stay and asked how the stay had been and then where our payment was. I told her that I'd pay the copay but outside of that, they could bill me.

[asoctoberfalls]

Our hospital offered a 30% discount if we prepaid, and we gladly took advantage. Even though we had 10% coinsurance, our OOP expenses ended up being much less than 10% of the negotiated costs.
I'm really not sure what happened, but I'll take it!

[mrssandro]

We had to give them a CC as a form of deposit.

[vanillacourage]

I would not do it if you can avoid it (and really, if your plan is to go into labor at home, they cannot turn you away if you arrive at the hospital in active labor).

My OB required that we pre-pay, so we did $200/month. Then, they waited long enough to submit bills to insurance that other providers "got there first", we hit our max OOP family deductible, didn't owe as much to the OB as was estimated, and it was a huge PITA to get it refunded.

[Deleted]

Normal here. Both hospitals I looked at delivering at "required". I got the letter at about 30 weeks. I ignored it. I just never got around to paying it. Then I ended up going into labor early before they began harassing me for the $$$.

[birdmom]

I wasn't asked about payment at all during my pregnancy, when I checked in to give birth, or when I checked out. I got a bill maybe a month later for my deductible. I knew my responsibility was my $500 deductible, though.

[cherry1111]

Yeah I'm not sure why they won't just bill me later. It isn't going to be the exact amount they quoted (which was strangely $650, just like someone else posted above) so they will have to bill me again later anyway. The plan is an induction at 39 weeks, or possibly a c section if this stubborn baby is still breech, so I'm not sure I could get away with not paying it up front.

[biscoffcookies]

We did not pre-pay -- it wasn't even mentioned. We had a flat $150 copay for DD's entire delivery and hospital stay. We got a bill from the hospital a couple of weeks afterward.

[MadamePresident]

I prepaid my midwife, but she had a flat fee.

[GailGoldie]

i have heard of this happening- but I personally would never EVER prepay for something that, God forbid, might not even end up happening in that hospital, or at all if something went very bad.

Hospitals are getting desperate so i can see them doing this and hoping some people will prepay - but in the end- they are not going to turn you away when you show up in labor.

[pugz]

I would not feel comfortable pre-paying. Insurance likes to fuck around with you, and this gives them a lot of leeway to do so.