Pregnancy is one of the most common causes of hospitalization among non-elderly people. In addition to the cost of the birth itself, pregnancy also involves costs associated with prenatal visits as well as treatment for psychological and medical conditions that can arise during pregnancy, birth, and the postpartum period.
This analysis examines the health costs associated with pregnancy, childbirth, post-partum care, and infancy using a subset of claims from the Merative MarketScan Encounter Database were analyzed from 2021 through 2023 for enrollees with employer-sponsored health insurance plans and their young (two years old or less) children. It finds that health costs associated with pregnancy, childbirth, and post-partum care average a total of $20,416, including $2,743 in out-of-pocket expenses, for women enrolled in employer plans. In addition to the cost of pregnancy and birth, newborns, defined as children with fewer than three months of enrollment, had average total health care spending of $5,820, including $475 in out-of-pocket costs.
The analysis can be found on the Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker, an information hub dedicated to monitoring and assessing the performance of the U.S. health system.
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