My unnecessary c-section cost over $30,000. Had I stayed home, my birth, plus all of my prenatal and postpartum care would have totalled around $4,500. No one is talking about how much hospital maternity care costs, how much money is wasted, and who pays the bill - but you know you can always count on me to bring that sort of thing up. In the US, most women give birth in hospitals, and most hospital care is covered by health insurance. Everyone’s insurance plan is different, but usually the majority of your bill will be covered - you may be left with a copay or to pay your deductible. But the rest of that bill - the part the insurance “covered” - who actually paid for it? Where did that money come from? From you. You didn’t pay the bill right then, but you paid it with your monthly premiums (& other subscribers of that insurance). And the higher the cost of each bill sent to the insurance company, the higher the premiums grow to cover it. In countries like England who have socialized healthcare it’s similar - you don’t usually get a bill after having a baby - it’s covered by the NHS (National Health Service). But where did THAT money come from? Your taxes. You paid for it. The more births cost, the more money insurance companies have to shell out, the higher insurance premiums will become (or your taxes). Birth is a multi billion dollar business in the US, but for every 1% shift from hospital birth to home, we would save an estimated $321,000,000. And that’s just 1%. Did health insurance or your National Health Service cover your birth? Were you aware of where that money came from? SHARE this post with a friend who didn’t know this! Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8507766/#!po=3.33333 . . . . . . . . . . . thebusinessofbirth thebusinessofbeingborn maternitycare healthinsurance healthinsurancepremiums healthinsurance nhs