I gave birth to a baby last month, which is often a very expensive experience. It only cost me about $300. Mostly because we have "good" insurance, but also because we made relatively inexpensive choices.
For my entire pregnancy, including labor and delivery, I saw a certified nurse midwife instead of an OB/GYN. I did deliver my son at the hospital, but without any medication or intervention. I wanted a topical anesthetic for a few stitches afterwards, and a couple ibuprofin pills, but that was all.
We checked out of the hospital as soon as they'd let us, less than 24 hours after delivery. By avoiding an induction, epidural, and/or C-section, I saved my insurance provider a lot of money... probably several thousand dollars.
We could've done even less and avoided medical professionals to a greater degree (no ultrasound, no blood tests, home birth, etc.), but I think we made some reasonable compromises. The question is, how can we encourage others to make similar choices? Not necessarily for end-of-life situations (I don't want to get into "death panel" stuff here), but at least for childbirth?
Part of health care reform includes cutting costs, and I think it should be possible to advertise the least-expensive options for a variety of scenarios, and encourage people to choose them. Assuming, of course, that there isn't any health risk or difference in outcome (many C-sections are medically necessary; I'm not talking about those cases). What kind of incentives could be offered? And by whom, the insurance companies or the government?
Yes, I'm sure there would be disagreement about what's "necessary". Plenty of women would say they "needed" an epidural anesthetic, and I can totally understand wanting to avoid the pain, but women have been giving birth naturally for a gazillion years. Insurance should continue to cover the cost of an epidural. But couldn't we encourage people not to use it?
I just wanted to get some feedback on this, since I've been thinking about it as we paid off our nice low hospital bill.