Choosing a Hospital- Part 1

This is a biggie. I am blessed to live in the Greater Orlando where there are hospitals galore. My doctor delivers babies at several of them, so really the decision is up to me (us actually). I have delivered babies at three of them and had good experiences with each one. So what is a girl to do? I decided to find out as much as I could about each hospital's labor & delivery and then to compare the costs. So here are my findings:

1. Winnie Palmer Hospital- A state of the art hospital just for women and babies, built in 2006. Level 3 NICU. Ideally suited for high risk pregnancies.

-vaginal delivery $3,200- 24 hr stay
-vaginal delivery $4,500- 48 hr stay

*These prices are for the pre-paid package rate that includes hospital care for Mom & baby. Must be paid in full before discharge from the hospital. Must have had pre-natal care throughout pregnancy and be low risk. Length of stay is based on the birth time of the baby. Not included: obstetrician, pediatrician, anthesiology, labs, and antibiotics charges/fees.

-cesarean delivery $7,600- 3 day length of stay

*Epidural included, but not cost to administer epidural. Anesthesiology charges are $1050 if paid up front and approx $2,000 if paid later. These prices are for the pre-paid package rate that includes hospital care for Mom & baby. Must be paid in full before discharge from the hospital. Length of stay is based on the birth time of the baby. Not included: obstetrician, pediatrician, anthesiology, labs, and antibiotics charges/fees.

2. Florida Hospital- same pre-paid price to deliver at Winter Park or Orlando locations. Florida Hospital Winter Park is considered the new boutique hospital. It has been remodeled, offers free massages, and brings in scones and other yummy non-hospital food to new mommies. NICU is Level 2. Florida Hospital Orlando has a Level 3 NICU and even has NICU rooms for Mom and baby to be together. One great thing about the Florida Hospital system is that they are owned by Seventh Day Adventists, so the staff can pray with you openly and encourage you as a brother/sister in Christ.

-vaginal delivery-48 hr short stay $4,240- covers Mom & baby care for 54hrs. starting at time of admission
*Not included $850 epidural, anesthesiology charges, $850 circumcision, physician charges, outpatient charges

-cesarean delivery- 72 hour short stay- $6,890- covers Mom & baby care for 78hrs. starting at time of admission- epidural included
*Not included anesthesiologists $750 pre-paid (afterwords $1500), $850 circumcision, physician charges, outpatient charges

HSA Maximum Contribution Going Up!

I just found out that the maximum Health Savings Account contribution is going up for 2012! As you avid readers will recall from a previous blog post, the 2011 family maximum was $6150. The new maximum family contribution for 2012 is $6250. Not a huge increase, but an increase none the less. In these tough economic times, $100 is nothing to sneeze at. Hurray, for $100 more tax free money to save for my family's medical expenses!

3rd Sonogram

The time had come. Third and hopefully final sonogram. Would the heart be okay? Would we get to find out the sex of  the baby? The cost... $200 for another detailed sonogram. The heart looked much bigger, and it had only been four weeks since the last one! The tech was able to zoom in and give us a great view of the heart. All four chambers were pumping strongly and nothing looked out of place. I was greatly relieved! There was still a very small slightly less bright area on the heart muscle. However, there was no abnormality that we could see and since it was less noticeable, we were encouraged. Neither the technician or our doctor seemed alarmed and sent us on our merry way, after the scan was complete. We did get to find out the sex of the baby too! I am happy to announce that we are expecting a baby girl in November!

Health Savings Account Heads Up!

Each year the IRS set a maximum contribution limit for Heatlh Savings Accounts, since these are tax free accounts. For a family the maximum allowed contribution in 2010 was $6150. Up until I found out I was pregnant, I had only deposited $20 in our HSA.

I figured I would just add money to it when we needed to go to the doctor. However, upon realizing that I was expecting, I knew we would want to deposit the full contribution amount. So I went to the IRS website to verify the maximum contribution amount for 2011 and found out some very important information. Even though the year 2010 was over, I still had until April 18, 2011 to contribute last year's total contribution of $6150!

So we quickly scrimped and saved. I went to the bank and deposited last years full contribution, making sure the bank credited it correctly for 2010.We still haven't used all that money in the HSA up yet, but I am so thankful to God that it is in there and tax free.

We are currently saving up to add 2011's contribution, which the IRS didn't change the amount on, so it is still $6150. I am sure that my hospital stay and newborn care will eventually use up the full amount. But isn't it great not be taxed on $12,300! I really like that HSA money rolls over every year, is tax free, and can be passed on to my kids. I also really like not throwing away all that money on insurance company premiums!

5th Month Visit- Is the Sugar Test Necessary?

This was the easiest and quickest appointment yet. No bloodwork, no money due. Just the usual- blood pressure, weight, urine sample, and listening to the heartbeat.

All was well! I took this opportunity to ask my doctor about the sugar test, that I was scheduled to have on my next visit. It is the glucose tolerance test. I have had the test five times now, with my other pregnancies, and each time I did not have gestational diabetes. I asked him if it was really necessary for me to take the test again. I am frugal, and so I thought that maybe I could save some money, and just not have the test done.

I asked my doctor for his opinion. He said that the more pregnancies you have, the higher your risk goes up, to get gestational diabetes. He then added that it is important to know for sure if a mother has it or not, because it can cause problems for the baby during and after delivery. So I told him that I would have it done and explained that I was asking because I am cheap. My doctor laughed and said that he is too.

Lab Bill #2

I received the lab bill from my last appointment. My blood was run through about 10 different tests: Rubella, RH, HCG, Viral antibody, Hep B, etc. The total charge was $619.83, but because I get my insurance company's contract rate, $506.86 was deducted. This made my final bill $112.97. Not bad, not bad at all!

Second Sonogram

Had to pay more for this sonogram...$175. It was a very detailed in office sonogram that took around 50 minutes. Lots of measuring of the baby's body parts and inputting of data. We were not able to determine the sex of the baby as he/she wasn't cooperating.

A thickening of the heart muscle was noticed on the sonogram, and indicated by a white spot on the heart. Our doctor came in and explained that this could be a sign of a chromosomal abnormality in the baby. However, since everything else had measured correctly, there were no other known markers for an abnormality. He said in 99% of these cases, that the thickened muscle is just a normal part of this baby's development, and would probably go away in several weeks.

He then that he would send us over to Winnie Palmer Hospital to have a more detailed ultrasound. My husband asked what this would accomplish, if anything was discovered. Our doctor said that if an abnormality was found, that they would recommend an amniocentesis to get more specific results. He then said that no matter what they found, there was nothing the hospital could to fix a chromosomal abnormality. He said that sometimes people decide to abort the baby, which he knew that we we would not do.

We told him that we weren't interested in going to the hospital. He said that another option would be to have a sonogram in his office in four weeks.We could then look at the heart again and see if the thickening had gone away. That would also give us another chance to hopefully find out whether we are having a boy or a girl. We decided that we wanted another sonogram, that we would wait four more weeks, and that it was worth the cost.