The cost of raising a child in America has soared (2018) • Hacker News Board

Re: The cost of raising a child in America has soared (2018)

#81

Post by EvanAnderson » Tue, Jun 25, 2019, 10:32 AM UTC

pkaye wrote: post #79

EvanAnderson wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All my plans since 2013 have been $12K+ deductible. (Self-employed in Ohio.) Every medical event is a major shopping and price comparison exercise, and nearly every provider refuses to quote hard-and-fast prices. (You also get treated very badly by some practices who act terribly put-off that you'd have the lack of decency to ask about prices. You get that treatment double when it's about a procedure for your kid. P/…

Curious what is your yearly premiums? Is it a high deductible plan?

The current year is a high deductible plan (as all of mine have been since starting self-employment in 2004) but is not HSA-eligible. (Most years we've had an HSA-eligible plan, but some years none were available or they were vastly more expensive than the non-HSA eligible, which makes no sense.) We found a way to get an employer-sponsored plan thru my LLC this year and that dropped the premiums to just under $12K w/ a $13.6K family deductible. The marketplace plan we were on last year, had we renewed for 2019, would have been $17.5K in premiums w/ the same deductible. Neither is HSA-eligible.

Re: The cost of raising a child in America has soared (2018)

#82

Post by polotics » Tue, Jun 25, 2019, 12:24 PM UTC

nicudad wrote: post #68

foxfired wrote: post #39

In January of this year, I was blessed with two beautiful fraternal twins. Twins come out earlier and are expected to be preemies usually. The problem was, they were due on March 15. We spent two months in the NICU (newborn intensive care unit). The nurses couldn't be more amazing. They took care of those babies like they were their own. And along the way, they took care of us. They made sure nothing was ever missing…

My second child had a problem at birth and out of an abundance of caution was rushed to the NICU unit in a nearby city. I agree this was reasonable. I also agree the NICU unit and hospital are professional, effective, and sincere. After a few days it was clear there was no ongoing problem and absolutely no issues. He was not a preemie. At this point the bill would have been around $100,000. But they insisted to keep…

Thanks a lot. Very helpful to show this to my wife when she gets the idea of a research job in the US: It's. just. too. Dangerous!

Re: The cost of raising a child in America has soared (2018)

#83

Post by KumarAseem » Tue, Jun 25, 2019, 12:33 PM UTC

I think it has raised in most of the countries.

In India, raising a child now is a very tough one. 1) Health Insurance - Not everyone has it and many who have turns out to be not sufficient. 2) Education - Schooling has become extremely expensive. There is not much regulation and schools apply a lot of tricks to get money from you, mainly under the guise of extra-curricular activities or development. They force the parents to pay, and legal recourse isn't available. 3) Health again - With the bad air, water and food that the children are getting these days, a lot of them get some or the other illness on a regular basis, which forces the kids to visit doctors frequently and take medicines. These all doctor visits don't get covered under insurance a lot of times. Kids of today are not developing a strong immune system. To top it all, many parents don't let their kids play outside. They give them a mobile and think they have done their duty.

I forsee a very bad/difficult future for a lot of children.

Re: The cost of raising a child in America has soared (2018)

#84

Post by EADGBE » Tue, Jun 25, 2019, 2:19 PM UTC

analog31 wrote: post #29

souprock wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You didn't say why, which is fine, but I hope there is something more significant than just "twins" and that there is an actual intent to change treatment based on all that testing. If you wouldn't take specific action based on the results, then the exposure is unjustified. Satisfying curiosity is not a proper justification. See the Chinese ultrasound study. It's a study that is impossible to perform in the USA becau…

Certain pregnancies are automatically elevated to "at risk" status, and AFAIK twins are one of the check boxes. Another is maternal age.

> Another is maternal age.

See: Geriatric Pregnancy/Advanced Maternal Age Pregnancy (Pregnancy after the age of 35).

Re: The cost of raising a child in America has soared (2018)

#85

Post by EADGBE » Tue, Jun 25, 2019, 2:22 PM UTC

lanrh1836 wrote: post #18

gavanwoolery wrote: post #3

I'm having identical twins, classified as high risk. The cost is mind-boggling. I've already paid $7000+ out of pocket, and they have not even been born yet. Costs are mostly related to having to do ultrasounds all the time, and one MRI.

If you knew you would be having a baby one year, wouldn’t it make sense to pay a higher premium for a better plan with a low or 0 deductible? Or does the math still not work out?

Becoming pregnant isn't a qualifying life event, but having a baby is. So if you time it right with open enrollment, you certainly could switch to low deductible if such an option existed for your insurance plan.

The insurance options (4 different providers over the years, 3 BIG players in the game, one self-funded) I've had so far in my fatherhood haven't offered a stepped plan, either (they were all or nothing).

Re: The cost of raising a child in America has soared (2018)

#86

Post by EADGBE » Tue, Jun 25, 2019, 2:31 PM UTC

guntars wrote: post #10

lawnchair_larry wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What insurance plan can result in $7k out of pocket for unborn children?

Any high deductible plan will do that, but he’s covered after that. It’d also be conducive to his wallet if they get born before Jan 1st.

> It’d also be conducive to his wallet if they get born before Jan 1st.

Agreed. Also, being born even on December 31 2019 qualifies you for having another dependent in your household for the entire 2019 taxes, so it's a double whammy.

A due date after September-ish ensures you're only paying the medical treatments/screens/hospitalization/etc for that year and that year only (vs, as you mention, a due date that happens potentially anytime between Jan-August).

It's tricky. Unfortunately.

Re: The cost of raising a child in America has soared (2018)

#87

Post by EADGBE » Tue, Jun 25, 2019, 2:39 PM UTC

souprock wrote: post #70

onemoresoop wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How big a family do you feed on $4000/month? At first it seemed a bit high but I know nothing about your household so won’t play the assumption game. I, my wife and my year old spend at most 1000 on food monthly. We eat quite healthy but my wife cooks daily so that saves a bit.

A few comments above I said "I have a dozen kids". With parents, that is 14 people. We cook. I look for sale prices. We eat a lot of chicken, but we also get fish. I count just 3 of you. Scaling up for family size and ignoring the sizes of the people, your $1000 would be $4666 for me. I guess I'm doing well to spend only $4000. Scaling the other direction, you'd be on a similar per-person budget if you spent $857 per…

Not to discount, but I'm sure you benefit from buying in bulk as well. We are a family of 5, about as efficient with food costs ($250/week) (yet, also our preschoolers are still quite picky eaters).

I'm just enjoying your comments. Sounds like you're doing a lot of things right. Right on!

Re: The cost of raising a child in America has soared (2018)

#88

Post by EADGBE » Tue, Jun 25, 2019, 2:46 PM UTC

TuringNYC wrote: post #21

lanrh1836 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you knew you would be having a baby one year, wouldn’t it make sense to pay a higher premium for a better plan with a low or 0 deductible? Or does the math still not work out?

1. Not all companies give you such options 2. A lot of the cost is in fine print of things not covered, e.g. during our delivery two of the many many medical personnel were out of network and we ended up paying a huge co-pay for that — but it wasn’t like we could have checked ids for each doctor entering the room etc for insurance acceptance. They entered, they did something, they billed.

> They entered, they did something, they billed.

Very unfortunate. This makes the research into whether your preferred hospital/OB-associated-hospital is in- or out-of-network rather useless to some degree.

Re: The cost of raising a child in America has soared (2018)

#89

Post by pkaye » Tue, Jun 25, 2019, 4:52 PM UTC

EvanAnderson wrote: post #81

pkaye wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Curious what is your yearly premiums? Is it a high deductible plan?

The current year is a high deductible plan (as all of mine have been since starting self-employment in 2004) but is not HSA-eligible. (Most years we've had an HSA-eligible plan, but some years none were available or they were vastly more expensive than the non-HSA eligible, which makes no sense.) We found a way to get an employer-sponsored plan thru my LLC this year and that dropped the premiums to just under $12K w/…

I was punching some numbers into Covered California marketplace and for $12K you could get some pretty good plans. And if you qualify for the subsidy it is much lower. Some of the HMO plans have no or low deductibles.

Re: The cost of raising a child in America has soared (2018)

#90

Post by t0mbstone » Tue, Jun 25, 2019, 5:30 PM UTC

nicudad wrote: post #68

foxfired wrote: post #39

In January of this year, I was blessed with two beautiful fraternal twins. Twins come out earlier and are expected to be preemies usually. The problem was, they were due on March 15. We spent two months in the NICU (newborn intensive care unit). The nurses couldn't be more amazing. They took care of those babies like they were their own. And along the way, they took care of us. They made sure nothing was ever missing…

My second child had a problem at birth and out of an abundance of caution was rushed to the NICU unit in a nearby city. I agree this was reasonable. I also agree the NICU unit and hospital are professional, effective, and sincere. After a few days it was clear there was no ongoing problem and absolutely no issues. He was not a preemie. At this point the bill would have been around $100,000. But they insisted to keep…

I can't help but think you might be able to sue the hospital for following unsanitary procedures in the NICU? Have you talked to a lawyer?