The Price of Giving Birth in the United States

It might not come as a shock to some Americans who come staggering out of hospital waiting rooms with a larger hospital bill than the price of a four-year college. But truth be told, being born in the 'land of the free' can be seven to 13 times as expensive as it might be in other similar countries.

For instance, according to an article today from The New York Times titled "American Way of Birth, Costliest in the World," by Elisabeth Rosenthal, she writes that in countries such as Switzerland, Norway and even France, the average cost of a vaginal birth including newborn care, is around $4,000. In America, it's a bit more pricey than that.

In fact, the average price just to bring a child into the world in the United States comes in at about $30,000. And this is without any complications that can occur during the birth.

For those that undergo cesarean sections while giving birth, the cost of a surgical delivery often goes up by at least $20,000, tipping in at around $50,000 just for a cesarean section.

"It's not primarily that we get a different bundle of services when we have a baby," Gerard Anderson, an economist at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health who studies international health costs said, according to the Times. "It's that we pay individually for each service and pay more for the services we receive."

The analysis composed by Rosenthal shows that the expenses for prenatal care in the Untied States have more than tripled since 1996, with the 4 million births each year costing around $50 billion.

What do you think the costs should be?