flexible spending account & pregnancy/giving birth question!

Re: flexible spending account & pregnancy/giving birth question!

• magpie1127

  November 2011

  I haven't had a baby yet, but I studied a lot of women's health in college. A LOT is going to depend on what kind of birth you have. If you go to a traditional hospital, a vaginal birth in some of the most expensive areas in the country (upstate NY, for example) can charge upwards of 10,000. If you're planning on doing an all-natural birth at a birth center near a hospital, its generally around 4,000. If you go into a C section (as 1/3 of all hospital births do nowadays), it can go up to 30,000. And again, these numbers depend on your area. I would call the hospital, midwife, birth center, etc. where you plan on having your baby and ask them.
  

  
  

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• lburkey21

  November 2011

  I would also make sure you know exactly how the FSA works. I was under the assumption that you had to use the money, it can't just sit there like a bank account til you're ready for it. But I could definitely be wrong.

  
  
  
  
  

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• DaisyKD

  

  November 2011

  I would just be careful how much you contribute because I've heard that you lose what you don't use at the end of the year.

  Having a baby is expensive though, and I would have LOVED to have an FSA account to draw from during this past year, especially since we got pregnant in March and will deliver in November/December.   In our experiences we have been paying for things like ultrasounds, bloodwork, etc. and are about to hit our $1000 deductible, then have to pay 80% of delivery (up to a certain out of pocket max).  So really for us the huge expense will be at delivery, up until now we have just been working towards hitting our deductible.  It would have been really nice to have paid all of that tax free through the FSA though!!!

   Can you open the FSA account part-way through the year (like once you get pregnant?) Or maybe you could open one and contribute a small amount, and then if you get pregnant up the amount according to what you think you may need.  Because if you end up delivering in early 2013 as opposed to late 2012 it might not be a good idea to have a ton of money sitting in the account that you won't use.

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• DaisyKD

  

  November 2011

  oh also-a lot of hospitals will have listed right on their website how much they bill for services such as a c-section, normal delivery, etc. 

  So if you know where you might want to deliver (or just want to get a ballpark for your area) you could look up this info, then contact your insurance to see how much they pay out and what the out of pocket maximum is, and kind of estimate that way how much the birth will be. 

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• ellen73 member

  

  November 2011

  Thanks!  I know we have pretty good insurance, but I know there will be plenty of out of pocket expenses.  I know I can only make changes to my plan mid year for major life events. Like birth, marriage, loss of job of spouse, etc.    I need to decide by Tuesday. 

   

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