How expensive is it in YOUR state to give birth?
America’s postcode lottery for the price of giving birth has been revealed in DailyMail.com interactive maps.
Based on data from healthcare insurance claims analyst FAIR Health, they show how the national average stands at $12,900 for a vaginal delivery and $15,500 for a C-section.
The costs ranged by as much as $13,000 for a vaginal delivery depending on where someone lives, with Alaska and New Jersey charging up to $21,000 for birth, while in Alabama and Louisiana, the price for the same procedure could be below $8,000.
The situation was worst for uninsured patients, who could face costs upwards of $50,000 for giving birth in the country.
Some states were more expensive because of their high cost of living and the fact that they had nationally renowned healthcare providers.
On the other hand, states with a lower cost of living tended to have lower price tags for giving birth. The map comes as the number of births per year continues to trend downwards in the US, with many now waiting until later in life to have children.
For the analysis, FAIR Health looked at its database of 41billion claims — the largest in the US — and included those linked to giving birth in 2022.
These were claims for the actual birth — such as renting the labor room — and for tests afterward — like fetal stress and any scans.
The analysis calculated figures for people with health insurance, comprising 92 percent of the population and those without.
Patients will likely only need to pay a fraction of the total costs out-of-pocket — typically $2,500 to $3,000, with insurance companies footing the rest.
Major insurance groups like Cigna and Aetna negotiate the price of a birth or C-section with insurance companies, with patients later required to pay only a percentage of the total.
However, those who come to healthcare systems without insurance face much higher costs.
The costs were calculated for people who did not face complications, with those that do likely to face a larger bill.
Broken down by state, the most expensive for vaginal delivery was Alaska ($21,525) and New York ($19,990).
Rounding out the top five were New Jersey ($18,688), Connecticut ($17,387) and Massachusetts ($16,731).
At the other end of the scale, there was Alabama ($7,840), Louisiana ($7,981) and Maryland ($9,183).
Alaska was also the most expensive state for C-sections, with the procedure priced at more than $25,000.
The state was followed by New Jersey, also at $25,000, New York ($22,353) and Connecticut ($29,956) regarding C-section costs.
The cheapest state was Alabama, priced at $8,913, with Louisiana second at $8,995 and Maryland third at $9,856.
Alaska is one of the most expensive places for healthcare in the United States, including giving birth, partly because of its geographical isolation.
This leads to higher costs for getting vital medical supplies to the state, while the limited competition — due to fewer providers — allows those there to charge more.
The costs of giving birth in Alaska are also forced by its high cost of living, with people needing to earn more to live comfortably in the state.
The cost of giving birth is also higher in the New York metropolitan area — New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.
This may be linked to it having a higher quality healthcare system, with hospitals there often ranking among the best in the country, alongside the higher cost of living in the area.
Women giving birth in these areas may also face higher insurance premiums and deductibles due to the higher cost of living, also inflating prices.
At the other end of the scale were the southern states — particularly Alabama — for both vaginal deliveries and C-sections.
This is likely driven by the state having a lower cost of living and, as a result, being able to charge less for healthcare than in other areas.
It also has a low population density, which can result in less demand for healthcare — which would also help to push down prices.
Robin Gelburd, the president of FAIR Health, said that Alaska’s high prices were due to its ‘remote geography and practice settings, cost of travel and potential lack of access to practitioners and relevant facilities.’
On Alabama, he said this was a state with ‘a relatively low cost of living that translates generally into lower cost of healthcare’.
He added: ‘The lower prices may also be a reflection of the reimbursement rates negotiated between plans and providers in the South and the relative negotiating power of the parties.’
The above graph shows how the US birth rate is continuing to drop. Experts say that the rising cost of having a child has driven it ever lower, although people choosing to spend longer focusing on their career and social life is also a factor
It comes after it was revealed that a record number of women are now waiting until they hit their 40s to have children.
Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showed that the birth rate for women aged 40 to 44 rose four percent 2022 from the previous year to a record high.
There was also a 12 percent uptick among women aged 45 to 49, the first change in this rate since 2015, and to another record level.
Experts say that more people are putting off starting a family until later in life, instead focusing on their career, travel and social life in their younger years. The cost of giving birth and becoming a mother is also a factor.
The rise of technologies such as invitro-fertilization (IVF) and egg freezing have also played a role.
The uptick among older women comes as America’s fertility rate hovers at just below 1.7 births per woman. It hit a record low in 2020 at 1.6 when the pandemic led many couples to put off having children.
The data was released as a ‘Cost of Giving Birth’ tracker on the FAIR Health website.
Its president Robin Gelburd said: ‘FAIR Health is pleased to shine a light onto the costs of giving birth from state to state and nationally.
‘With the Cost of Giving Birth tracker, we once again use our vast data repository to inform healthcare stakeholders — including patients, policy-makers, payors and providers — on issues that matter to them.’