Prenatal Care Cost

If you are planning for a baby and are on the lookout to find out about the prenatal care cost, you are at the right place. Before you start off with the celebrations for the arrival of your first baby, you must plan for the entire cost of prenatal care. If you are insured well, you will not have to spend a penny more, but only if there are no dues to be paid. In the United States of America (USA), every pregnant woman can be insured with health insurance for pregnant women. However, there are women in USA who are under insured. According to statistics 13% of pregnant women in USA are uninsured. Approximately, the average cost goes up to $8000. With any increase in the risk and complications in pregnancy, the cost increases. Another factor influencing it is the health of the mother. More the complications, more are the expenses.

Average Cost of Prenatal Care

The very first cost incurred during pregnancy are the fees for the doctor's visit. The pregnant woman visits the doctor once every month for the first six months. In the seventh and the eight month, she visits the gynecologist twice a month. In the ninth month, she has to visit the doctor once a week. So, on an average, the mother has to visit the doctor fourteen times in the whole pregnancy period. This count can increase, if there are complications in the prenatal period. The average cost of one visit to the gynecologist is around $130. Hence, the average cost of the visit is $1820. These costs do not include the various blood tests, ultrasound tests and other prenatal tests which are conducted. The major part of the prenatal cost are the visiting charges of the doctor. In addition, these charges can vary from state to state.

Blood tests and ultrasound tests form the next expense in the prenatal cost. Ultrasound tests are necessary to know the gestational age and structure of the baby. The ultrasound test is to be performed after 20 weeks. The next ultrasound tests are done only if the doctor thinks that the baby needs to be supervised. The average cost of the ultrasound test is around $190. Then comes the cost of the childbirth, which can have four possibilities viz., normal vaginal delivery without any complications, normal vaginal delivery, vaginal delivery with complications, C-section delivery without complications and C-section delivery with complications. The cost increases with the increase in complications. Also, the C-section delivery costs more as compared to the normal vaginal delivery. The cost of the normal vaginal delivery without complications is approximately $6000, while the vaginal delivery with complications can reach an approximate figure of $8000. The C-section delivery is quite expensive and goes above $10,000. The average cost of C-section delivery without complication costs up to $12,000, while the C-section delivery with complication can cost you approximately $16000. These are only the charges of the delivery, excluding the room charges. There are additional charges of medicines and prenatal supplements like prenatal vitamins which are recommended by doctors to many women.

Remember that these costs may vary from state to state and doctor to doctor. Best of luck for a happy pregnancy and safe delivery!