It costs more than $11,000 to give birth in Texas
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
The average cost of giving birth in the Lone Star State is below the national average, but could still hand you a big medical bill.
Driving the news: While giving birth isn't cheap anywhere, it's far pricier in some states than others, according to data provided first to Axios from FAIR Health.
- FAIR Health's 2022 Cost of Giving Birth Tracker — which uses data from more than 41 billion private health care claim records — offers a glimpse at how much variability there is in the cost of one of the most common health care services.
By the numbers: Texas' median in-network charge for a vaginal delivery is more than $11,318. Out of network, it's more than $27,500.
- As for C-sections, the state's median in-network charge is roughly $13,900, while out-of-network rises to about $35,900.
Zoom out: The national average for in-network vaginal deliveries is $12,968, and $15,556 for C-sections.
The big picture: Alaska has the highest costs in the country. Its median allowed in-network amount for vaginal deliveries is more than $21,520 and almost $25,520 for C-sections.
- But Texas' costs are more expensive than some neighboring states, including Oklahoma with a $9,614 in-network median vaginal delivery cost, New Mexico with $10,848, and Louisiana with $7,981.
- Alabama had the lowest median allowed in-network amount in the country at about $7,840 for vaginal deliveries and $8,910 for C-sections.