I’m Canadian. And I’m already sorry for asking an ignorant question.
I know you have to pay for hospital visits in the states. I know lower economic status can come with lower access to birth control and sex education. But then, how do they afford to give birth? Do people ever avoid hospital visits because they don’t feel like they can’t afford it?
Do hospitals put people on a payment plan? Is it possible to give birth and not pay if you don’t have the means? How does it work in the states?
How does it all work?
Again. Canadian. And sorry.
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If you have a masters and 20 years of experience, you’re pretty much guaranteed to have a job that has the health insurance to pay for all of that. If you don’t, then you need a new job
If they’ve got a masters and 20 years of experience they’re either a genius or almost 50 years old. Children are already a huge commitment, being older makes it that much harder
I have 15 years of experience in software engineering, but that’s only because I started when I was 12. Experience is experience. Now, if they meant professional experience that’s a bit different
Generally it’d be professional experience.
Health insurance still leaves you with a large bill. Expect like $10k for the hospital part for a lot of insurances. Don’t forget the obgyn visits throughout the pregnancy (probably only $25-$75 per visit, depending on if you need a specialist). Labs are extra. In fact, the one that really tells a lot of info (lots of recessive gene issues can be found with it) is like a $750 lab that insurance doesn’t usually pay for (“it’s too new, and not required”).
I have 2 children. Insurance covered almost everything. The out of pocket expenses for the hospital were something like $700, not thousands. For doctor’s visits it was just the $20 co-pay for each visit, and all the labs were fully covered.
Good insurance! Our child born this year the hospital bill looks like around $8k after insurance, but we keep getting other bills from the provider’s offices so it’s hard to say exactly. Fortunately my wife has a secondary insurance of some sort we can submit the $8k to get that knocked down to hopefully $4k. If it works. It’s been months trying to get it sorted.
This year? Check out the no surprise bill (federal). Those extra bills might not be legal
I had an 8k bill for a TIA I had last year. It’s a lot of money, but if you have a job that will cover most of your hospital bills, you can probably pay for it without drowning
To be clear, I’m not saying it’s a good system
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Sure, maybe the hospital bills but raising 3 kids and going on vacations every year? You’re talking multi million dollar salary to be able to afford all of that on one income in SoCal of all places
Then… Don’t live in SoCal?
Leave California and this all becomes possible with your salary.
I live in SoCal and love it, and do not intend to have kids, but it really seems like you’d be struggling to raise 3 kids around here on less than $150k (2 cars, rent/mortgage, etc).
Obviously many people manage it somehow, but it must be incredibly stressful. I have no idea how most of them do it.
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