May 10 2024KFF Health News
About 12% of the 100 million U.S. adults with health care debt attribute at least some of it to pregnancy or childbirth, according to a KFF poll. "So often, they may be coming to the office or the hospital with preexisting debt from school, from other financial pressures of starting adult life," Attwood said. "They are having to make real choices, and what those real choices may entail can include the choice to not get certain services or medications or what may be needed for the care of themselves or their fetus.
Related StoriesFor weeks, Crivilare remained in the hospital alone as covid protocols limited visitors. Meanwhile, doctors steadily upped her medications while monitoring the fetus. It was, she said, "the scariest month of my life." Out-of-pocket costs are even higher for families with a newborn who needs to stay in a neonatal ICU, averaging $5,000. And for 1 in 11 of these families, medical bills related to pregnancy and childbirth exceed $10,000, the researchers found.
In Massachusetts, state Sen. Cindy Friedman has proposed legislation to exempt all these bills from copays, deductibles, and other cost sharing. This would parallel federal rules that require health plans to cover recommended preventive services like annual physicals without cost sharing for patients. "We want … healthy children, and that starts with healthy mothers," Friedman said.
But they are now back in debt, after Rita's recurrent ear infections required surgery last year, leaving the family with thousands of dollars in new medical bills.