Prepay for delivery

Hey mamas! I was wondering what y’all’s experience was with this. My third visit with my OB they said they verified with my insurance what the cost is to pay for my provider for a vaginal birth. So they created a breakdown and told me how much I owed from that moment until the end of July that I HAD to pay before birth. Which I thought was weird cause how are you going to charge for something that hasn’t happened yet, and it may not even go according to plan etc. I did pay the first two installments, but when I asked to pay the third they said I didn’t owe anything…lol but that’s beside the point. I mentioned this casually to my therapist, and she explained to me that they can’t charge insurance for anything until after it has been done. So basically what they’re doing is taking a deposit to make sure they get paid, even if insurance does end up covering everything. And if insurance does end up covering her fee etc, will they likely reimburse me etc. However when I read online I saw that it was pretty common practice, every office is different on how they handle it. And I heard it’s also a Texas thing. So I was just curious what y’all’s experience was with this?

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That's interesting. My OB hasn't asked me to pay anything for the birth and I'm 38 weeks along. I think that's strange to pay for something that hasn't happened yet because like you said, you don't know how things will go yet. I would question that and maybe find a different doctor if they try to make you pay more. I'm going to a hospital in Austin and I've registered at the hospital but absolutely no bill nor quote has been given to me regarding the birth.

Same boat here I thought it was weird too! We owed a little over 2500 paying in four installments set up automatically 🤷🏾‍♀️

My hospital tried the same thing and I did NOT pay before birth. They kept calling and even said they wouldn’t let me have my c-section without payment (you have to pay “something” is what they said). I did NOT pay anything before birth. I told them what they were asking didn’t make sense and that I would wait until AFTER birth to see what insurance covered before paying. I also will be setting up a payment plan, because I’m not paying everything all at one time.

Yeah my dr tried this because I had private insurance at the time. It was a ridiculous amount and they wanted it paid by like 32 or 36 weeks. Then I got approved for my Medicaid and didn’t have to pay anything

I paid for my birth like that as well. I didn't think it was a big deal really. I ended up getting some money back after delivery.

My OB practice has the same policy (I'm on private insurance)--pay per prenatal visit/in installments, then pay the balance a few weeks before birth. They also explained that the hospital would bill separately for delivery and stay.

My OB was the same. I thought it was weird but never had a baby so didn't really know. I paid it. It was actually kinda nice to not have to worry about another bill coming in and I just got reimbursed a little. I did get a separate bill from the hospital which they said I would. The hospital tried to have me prepay and I didn't pay for that I just had them send me a bill.