Are Californian women being over-charged for hospital births?

A new study has examined Californian hospital bills and found that there are dramatic discrepancies in how much a woman giving birth can expect to be charged.

Childbirth is the most common reason for hospitalization - in California alone more than half a million women give birth in the hospital every year.

But the costs of this are difficult to predict, with hospitals in the same geographic area charging amounts for the same procedure that can differ by thousands of dollars.

The study, which was conducted by researchers from the University of California - San Francisco (UCSF) and published in the journal BMJ Open, found that the charge for an uncomplicated vaginal delivery could range from the lowest price of $3,296 to more than 10 times that price - $37,227 - for the most expensive.

The cost of Caesarean sections saw similar differences in costing, with $8,312 at the cheapest to nearly $71,000 at the most expensive. The leap in cost does not account for more complicated procedures, as few women in the study had serious health issues, with most women being discharged from the hospital within 6 days of admission.

Excess charges

The study also looked at how much hospitals were reimbursed for births by private insurers. On average, the researchers estimated that the discounted prices covered by insurers came to 37% of the original bill.

The difference between the charge and the reimbursement recorded in the review - what the researchers define as "excess charges" - came to a total of $1.3 billion.