Jun 26, 2023 - Health
The price of giving birth in Pennsylvania
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Giving birth in the Keystone State can be accompanied by a big bill.
State of play: While giving birth isn't cheap anywhere, there are some states in the U.S. where it's far pricier than others, according to data provided first to Axios from FAIR Health, writes Axios' Tina Reed.
- FAIR Health's new 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: Pennsylvania's median in-network amount for a vaginal delivery is more than $13,500. Out of network, it's almost $26,000.
- As for C-sections, the median in-network amount is roughly $17,900, while out-of-network is almost $35,700.
Zoom out: Still, that's cheaper than Alaska, where the median allowed in-network amount for vaginal deliveries is more than $21,520. It's also more expensive in Northeast states including New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts.
- Alabama had the lowest median allowed in-network amount for vaginal deliveries, about $7,840, followed by (in order from lowest to highest), Louisiana, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia.
- Alaska also had the highest median allowed amount for C-sections (almost $25,520) while Alabama also had the lowest median allowed amount for C-sections, (about $8,910).