The Cost of Being Born

More than 4 million babies are born in the U.S. each year, which not only means a lot of diapers, but also that there is a huge chunk of change being paid out for medical expenses even before the big delivery.

According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, just the cost of having a baby – including prenatal care, prescription medication and delivery – costs about $7,600.

These figures are based on data collected in 2007, the most recent set of numbers available, but the assumption is that those costs have only increased in the past three years.

According to the study, the cost of having a baby differs slightly from women who have private insurance to those who are on Medicaid. Prenatal care was about the same cost, at about $2,000 per patient.

Approximately 23% of women have some sort of prescription drug expenses associated with their pregnancy, averaging $640 per person. Three quarters of expenses are for nutritional supplements such as prenatal vitamins.

Women who are privately insured are charged on average $6,520 for inpatient delivery, while patients on Medicaid are typically charged an average of $4,577. There are ways to cut your costs, however.