The U.S. is the most expensive country in the world to give birth. But most hospitals won’t tell patients how much delivery and care costs until after the baby is born.
Why it matters: The average sticker price for childbirth in the U.S. is $32,093, and even insurance doesn’t take care of all of it. Hospitals can charge whatever they want for services, often leaving patients with a confusing list of items on the bill. For Dr. Renee Hsia, an emergency department physician and lead author of a study on California women giving birth, childbirth prices reflect the larger health care system — where high prices are “more the rule than the exception.”
As we near November's midterm elections, Democrats haven't distilled one of their biggest talking points — Medicare for All — down to one single policy.
The big picture: The fight for universal health care is not a new one. But the wave of Democrats campaigning on "Medicare for All" represents the most mainstream political support the idea has had in decades.
The politics and substantive rules of the road for the Affordable Care Act are more stable now than they have been in years. But chaos is never far away.
What to watch: The upcoming ACA enrollment season, which starts Nov. 1, will be the first one with the Trump administration’s agenda fully in place, and it will test just how effective that agenda is.
