Guest post by Kelli Hays of More Bang For Your Bucks
When our son Landon was born six years ago, we were expecting to pay cash for his delivery since we didn’t have maternity insurance. What we weren’t expecting was an additional $2,000 for my last-minute C-section plus $7,000 out-of-pocket expenses due to his rare pediatric liver disease. Add that to the $4,000 for my OB/GYN and other hospital bills, medication, hotel stays, gas, meals out — and we were out $13,000 by the end of the year! (This figure doesn’t count the $60,000 my insurance company did pay for my son’s health diagnosis, biopsy, surgery, etc.)
Just looking at that amount now still takes my breath away. But we were able to do it because we weren’t strapped down with consumer debt.
We had no credit cards or student loans. Both of our vehicles were paid for, and our mortgage was just $250 a month (no, I didn’t leave off a zero! With lots of sweat equity and a private loan, we were able to fix up a house we bought for $10,000 in the year 2002 and keep our mortgage well below what it would have cost to rent.)
We had a lot of stress going on shortly after our son’s birth. On top of being new parents, we had a ten-day stay in the neonatal intensive-care unit, then weekly trips to a city three hours away for the continuing diagnosis process, culminating in his surgery at seven weeks old.
The amount of tears I shed in that seven-week period was probably more than the sum total of my entire life up until that point. If we had to worry about finances, I can’t even imagine how much harder that time would have been.
Because we didn’t have any debt besides our house, all of Landon’s medical bills were paid off within the year. We are very thankful to our parents for teaching us to make wise financial decisions. I will never forget at one point in my infant son’s hospital room, my dad asked me, “Aren’t you glad you don’t have a huge mortgage to cover right now?” And I was.
Now, you may be thinking, “Well, they must have had a high paying job.” The truth is, my husband is a minister.
Our first year of marriage–the year we bought the house–he made $12,000 as a full time youth minister (again, I didn’t leave off a zero!) The next church we served in paid us triple that amount–which definitely took care of our needs but didn’t allow for exorbitant spending. I made $9,000 as a part-time private school teacher.
We just chose to live a simple life.
None of us know when tragedy will strike, but by being careful with the money we have been entrusted, it will take one worry off the table when a crisis does hit.
Kelli Hays blogs at More Bang For Your Bucks about ways to save money, as well as her life as a church planter’s wife (in the city where her son spent his time in the hospital!), mother of three, and do-it-yourself projects. Her son, Landon, is doing phenomenally well.
where do you live that you could find a house for $10K? even a falling down house on a postage stamp lot would cost at least $50K around here back in 2002. If you bought a house for $10K in 2002 how could you still be paying a mortgage in 2006?
Debt is such a deep, deep pit! Like some other readers your story inspired me to get out of debt because if anything like that happened to me we would be sunk! Scary and sobering thought!
First I want to say how blessed and inspiration this is. Secondly, and although not the main point of this post, I’m amazed to hear of anyone buying a liveable home for $10,000. Where I currently live $10,000 wouldn’t even buy you a plot without a home. Although I am moving to a new area and have seen maybe 1 or 2 listings under $30,000- they look like a run down shack that probably is covered in mold with little to no floor. But am glad to hear there are a few good very very cheap fixer uppers still left in the world.
Thanks Lee. If definitely is not common, but in our area there is lots of mining for coal, so there is a “house moving” business of houses that are bought out. This was not the case in our house- just an older man that wanted a house off of his property, but it still made for a cheap house! We did already have the land, so that was one reason it was so cheap.
Wow! You’re my hero for sure! I’m currently working on some medical bills, our car loan, and our home (which is much more expensive than $10000). Thankfully God has blessed us with a good income so I know it can be done.
Thank you so much for this story of yours. I’m holding on to it as my insperation to get these bill paid off
You are so kind. Good luck with your goals!
We had an experience this week that made us grateful for our financial reserves/planning, too. Our 3 month old daughter caught RSV and had to spend a night in the hospital. We have health insurance, but our deductible is so high (and we hadn’t paid anything on it yet this year) that it will still be $3500. We are thankful that this will be a nuisance, not a disaster, thanks to our healthy emergency fund.
At age 35, my dad felt the Lord leading him to go to Bible college…and we moved our family of 7 to NC and he and I attended college together! He did not work a job for the first year. Less than a month after we moved, my sister had to have an emergency appendectomy, and we didn’t have insurance either. With the Lords help, my parents payed off that debt over the 5 years my dad was in college. He did get a job (working for the college) the 2nd year there, but as you can imagine at a small Bible college, he didn’t make much. How did they do it? Well, we had no debt (even our house was paid for after selling our first house when we moved) and we lived super frugally. With the Lords help, the debt was paid off in the last few months we lived in NC! My dad and I graduated together in 2010.
I enjoyed this post! Thanks for sharing your story!
Wow what a fun story of you and your dad, and inspiring about your parents paying off their debt.
Thanks for sharing!
Every state has publicly funded insurance for medically fragile children. My sister was born at 23w, 5d gestation, weighing 1 pound and 2 oz. She was in the NICU for 8 months. All of the expenses were covered by that program, up through until she turned 21, at which time as a blind person, she qualified for Medicaid. She is blind, deaf and has profound mental retardation, but the medical costs were never an issue for our parents. My sister is now 29 years old.
I am so happy your son is doing well! Awesome post! One of the girls in my class told me mom is expecting again (no father) and it will be the seventh child. This family is completely on assistance and mom is given more money per child and pays nothing, nothing for the birth. It’s sad because this little girl is starving for attention. Years ago I had one of her older brothers in my class who has some emotional issues. Mom told me she screwed him up because she did drugs while pregnant. Perhaps if moms like this (and there are many) had to pay something toward the hospital care, they might think twice and it could improve the lives of their other children. It’s very sad . . . in an effort to help poor children, our government actually encourages moms to have more and more for more money.
My son was born 26 years ago. I had an unexpected c-section and when my son was born he wouldn’t start breathing. He was whisked away to NICU where doctors worked miracles. He was in the NICU for 10 days. I was in the hospital for 12 days after developing an infection in the c-section incision. Totally stressing out about how to pay my $1,200 deductible for the c-section (the total bill was somewhere over $90,000). Because of my low income, I was able to qualify for assistance to help pay for the deductible. My out-of-pocket expense: $25.00. They wouldn’t pay for the disposable breast pump adapter, because it was not considered medically necessary. BTW, my son was born with a brain injury and diagnosed with cerebral palsy that affects the entire right-side of his body. At 26, he is self-sustaining. He drives a car, has a job as custdian and is film student.
I am so glad you were able to get assistance.
And wow, that is wonderful about your son! What an inspiring story.
Your story is very inspiring, and I am so glad that things are OK with your son now! I can’t even imagine how hard that must have all been to go through.
I wish I could say that we are not strapped down by consumer debt, but we are 🙁 In spite of the fact that we vowed not to be before we got married, temptation got the better of us and we caved and used credit cards, took out loans for thing we couldn’t really afford, etc.
I hope that one day soon we can get out of debt and not get in any deeper. It’s stories like yours that make me want to do better and really look at the big picture when it comes to debt and spending 🙂
Anna, wow, thank you for your kind words. And you can do it! Reading websites like MSM is a great way to start! 🙂
I took a job about two years that included a SIGNIFICANT pay cut, but that would allow me to spend more time with my family. On top of the pay cut, the health insurance was more expensive, but a better policy. When my daughter unexpectantly ended up in the NICU for 8 days after she was born this past summer, money was the last thing that I wanted to worry about. We ended up paying a $200 co-pay for my daughter and a $200 copay for my c-section and 4 day hospital stay. Oh, and $15 for ALL of my prenatal care. Close to $100,000 worth of medical bills cost us $415 plus the $300 monthly health insurance premium that covers me, my husband and now, both of our children.
Changing jobs initially seemed like a stupid financial move, but my quality of life increased substantially. Then, just a year and a half later, it more than paid for itself because of our insurance (The plan with my old job was okay, but I think I paid about $2000 for the birth of my first child without a NICU stay–emergency c-section made it that expensive).
I’m glad your son is okay. The NICU staff was wonderful and I am very thankful for the care that they gave my daughter, but I hated every minute of my daughter having to be there.
Wow, that is amazing insurance! Glad your daughter is okay as well. Nothing can keep a mama up at night like a sick baby.
I’m glad your son is doing well!
Thank you Crystal! He truly is a miracle. 🙂
I’m so glad your son is doing well now, and I have to echo your father’s words about being glad not to have a large mortgage payment. As a former financial adviser, I often had to counsel clients who faced unexpected expenses without having an emergency fund. The stress of dealing with emergencies is compounded by trying to figure out the finances. In addition to being financially unprepared for unexpected challenges, many of my clients, who were families with six figure incomes, constantly lived beyond their means, and spent all or more of their monthly incomes. I was constantly amazed at how financially illiterate these “wealthy” families were. I believe that the truly wealthy are those with a good dose of common sense, the desire for simple living and being frugal through good times to prepare for the bad.
God bless you and yours!
I understand her father’s comment, but I can’t imagine saying that to someone in a hospital room :/
Sarita, it sounds like you are a very wise financial adviser! Thank you for your kind words!
Bravo!
After reading this, I’m curious to learn more about the “sweat equity” and private loan you made on your house and how you found it.
I’m going to check out your blog now. This was very educational in many ways.
Angie, the house we bought needed TONS of work, which my husband either knew how to do, or learned by reading books.
The private loan was from a family member, but even a mortgage on $10,000 wouldn’t have been very much!
I am a teacher, so I have great insurance. My husband lost his job 6 weeks before we were due to have our second son though. Although we were a bit stressed about long term financial well-being (we didn’t know how long he’d be out of work), the fact that we had very little debt really made it much easier. We do have his student loans (a staggering $45,000 left still!!), but we were able to defer those. We do have a small car payment, but if worse came to worse, we were going to sell the other car to pay it off since with only one of us working, we really only needed one car. We also have a mortgage–less than $1000/month, but definitely not $250, but in our area, rent would be more than that unless we all tried to squeeze into a one-bedroom or moved to an unsafe neighborhood, so any way we try to trim the budget, we can’t really get that monthly expense any lower. Not having credit card debt; debts for big purchases like TVs, furniture, etc. really helped a lot. Sure I was a bit stressed, but not overly stressed. My husband ended up gaining employment when my newborn was just 3 weeks old, so we only endured about 7 weeks of no paycheck for him (if you do the math–son was 2 weeks early). He did work a little bit part time during the last few weeks since it was the holidays. He actually still works that job part-time and enjoys it. Sure we could do better to attack the student loan debt and get rid of it and not have a car loan at all, but looking back, I have said to my husband, “Aren’t you glad we changed our way of thinking and spending before that happened? We already had the OOP expenses for delivery saved and ready to pay out when the time came. We had no credit card debt, no other crazy debts, and although it would have been hard if you had not found employment so quickly, we would have been OK.” The best thing about him finding employment was I got to take 12 weeks maternity leave as originally planned and not just 6–really got to take 14 weeks with Christmas break built in but we were looking at me returning as soon as Christmas break was over and my sweetie was only 6 weeks! 🙂
Now working on getting rid of the car loan and student loan (which will take years but if we can get rid of it earlier than the 15 years still left, that would be great)!
Wow, what a great story! So glad your husband’s unemployment didn’t last long, and you got a longer maternity leave. 🙂
Ok, I have a question for the author: if you were to have another baby, would you elect to go without maternity insurance again?
(We’re in a position where we buy our own health insurance on the open market – and adding a maternity rider would cost about $600 extra per month! We’re thinking of maybe having a 3rd child, but we’re not sure if taking out a new health insurance policy with a rider would be worth the expense).
We elected to not add the extra maternity coverage, because our doctor and hospital have cash pay discounts, and if your OOP is a certain % of your income you can write it off on your taxes. After running the numbers we found that the maternity coverage had little financial benefit. But that was our experience. You’d have to run the numbers and see how it compares for your situation 🙂
So before you ran the numbers, did you realize that a c-section cost $2k? (Or was that not factored in to the numbers?). I did have a c-section with my 1st child, and that cost $8000 in my area of the country.
One thing that worries me about not having maternity coverage: what if there’s a major issue, like pre-term labor at 25 weeks where I would have to stay in the hospital on bed rest? That could be a major expense!
Those are valid points. With our insurance, however, it was an extra $1000/mo and you had to start before becoming pregnant to avoid it being a “preexisting condition”. That’s $10000 plus the 80/20 we were paying. That’s way more than a $2k c-section. Which, OOP would be less than a cash pay discount. But, whatever works for you.
We are part of a Christian network called Samaritan Ministries. Their normal deductible for major medical is $300 per event, but if you can get reductions, they will reduce that amount. It has been a really wonderful experience for our family. When I had my 6th child, we paid nothing at all out of pocket. Our doctors loved it that we were willing to pay cash (from our savings) and then be reimbursed later, so they slashed our costs and over again. We had so many reductions that in the end, we didn’t even have to pay a deductible. We have 8 people in our family and pay only $320.00 a month for coverage. But, they do ask that you become a member before being pregnant, so this is an option that would be best for the readers who are considering a pregnancy in the future.
Kristie, that sounds like a great plan! Do you know by chance if they take families with pre-existing conditions? As I said, my son is doing really well, but most insurance companies exclude anyone with any liver disease.
Are you familiar with Samaritan Ministries, out of Peoria, IL? We use them for our family of 8 ($320.00 a month), and when I had my 6th child, we didn’t have to pay a dime because everything was covered. They reduce your deductible ($300) if you can get discounts from doctors. Because we were able to pay for some things along the way (ultrasounds, prenatal visits, etc.) out of savings, the doctors just loved it and were happy to slash our bills. That, in turn, reduced our deductible to zero. This winter, when our son had a $30,000 hospitalization, the same thing happened. We owe nothing. It’s such a blessing!
Ooops! Sorry, I did not mean to post this twice:)
We’re also Samaritan Ministry members, and it’s been an amazing blessing over the past four years…through hospital stays, pregnancies, ER visits and more. Highly recommend it!
Have you considered having a homebirth? Most midwives charge a fixed amount that is far less than the $7200 you’d pay for one year of maternity coverage.
Hey @ Andrea! Yes, I’ve talked with my husband about using a midwife, a home birth, and a birthing center. In my region, we actually have a birthing center about 35 minutes away.
Additionally, one of a good friends is having a home birth next month, and she’s told me that the whole thing will cost around $2000 – which would be a great alternative to paying for maternity coverage!
However, my husband isn’t 100% comfortable with this. Again, if something critical would happen like preterm labor & hospitalization at 25 weeks, a homebirth wouldn’t be an option. (And then hospitalization bills, doctor bills, etc wouldn’t be covered because we wouldn’t have maternity coverage). The final expense might add up to 6 digits of debt!
So…we’re caught between choosing more kids with no maternity coverage or paying crazy amounts for maternity coverage.
Or trusting that things will turn out fine!
Ashley, very good question. We are on private pay insurance, which means since my husband is a minister, we have to pay the full premium with no help from a company. The maternity is very expensive, and as others have mentioned, sometimes the co-pays are equal to or more than the reduced cash rate.
I would check with the hospital you would deliver in and see what their cash rate is. If the maternity rider is that expensive, I’m betting paying cash will be cheaper in the long run.
Hi Kelli,
I do think paying cash for a normal delievery would be cheaper than paying for the maternity insurance. However, without the maternity rider, we would have no insurance to cover a catestropic event (I’m sure I mis-spelled that) – like preterm labor, extended hospitalization, gestational diabetes…all the crazy things that “could” happen with pregnancy that no one plans on!
That is very true. I would check with your insurance company to see if any of those problems would be covered under regular medical instead of maternity. I’m not really sure how that works.
Oh, and congrats on your (future) third child! 🙂
i would definitely check with your insurance company about the details. Our agent actually told us not to get the rider, but instead “pay ourselves/savings acct.”, because you had to pay in 2yrs before you could use the maternity coverage! But our regular policy, while not covering normal maternity expenses- prenatal visits, delivery, etc.- it did cover complications. And same with baby, it did not cover any of the routine newborn care, tests, but did cover if anything went wrong, extended stays, etc. Hope you get the answers you need:)
Love it! Well done!
Thank you Lisa! 🙂
Hospitals will take less than the full amount of what is owed if you go and speak with them. Our friends asked for a lower amount and the hospital adjusted it to about a 25% of the total bill. They were expecting to pay half of the bill, but asked and then let the hospital come up with an amount. They give insurance companies a break, so why not the average “Joe” who has to pay out of pocket.
Many hospitals also offer financial aid to those who apply and qualify for it. My husband is a teacher and has health insurance- but medical bills stink no matter what. Both of my children have been born via c-section and needed surgery around a year old.
We didn’t think we’d qualify for assistance, as we fall in the ugly middle area of making too much to get help but not always making enough to cover extra expense. We were surprised how much help was available to us for our medical bills- it brought the amount down from thousands to hundreds, a much more manageable number each time. It never hurts to ask about it.
Rae, yes that is very true. We were able to get assistance for about 6 months, when we found out we were pregnant with our second child shortly after Landon’s first birthday. That helped so much! But the first year was all on us and our insurance company.
Pam, yes, we definitely got some major discounts for paying cash. I thought about doing another post about bargaining for medical expenses- so many don’t know you can do that!
Thanks for reading!
I wrote a post back in July about appealing medical expenses, if you’re interested. Maybe it would be helpful in writing your post?
http://theabundantwife.com/save-money-with-these-7-tips-for-appealing-your-medical-bills/
Very inspiring and beautiful story!!! We went through something similar when my daughter was unexpectedly born early. While we did have insurance, the oop expenses from the 4 week NICU stay came as a surprise, but since we were prepared for emergencies we were able to pay without the added worry. I couldn’t imagine having the extra stress of financial issues added into an already extremely stressful situation. Everyone: in my opinion, an emergency fund, no matter the size, is the ABSOLUTE most important thing to have! Emergencies WILL happen and emergencies will be stressful- don’t add financial worries to that stress!
Thanks Brooke, your words are very wise.
Is your daughter doing well?
Oh, yikes, I relate to this way too well. Our child was treated for cancer a few years a back, and it is phenomenally expensive. (Additionally, he was treated in a far-away city, and no matter how good your insurance plan is, it doesn’t pay for airline tickets.)
So glad to hear your little boy is doing well. (Ours is, too.)
Anne, I am so glad your son is doing well. And you’re right, insurance doesn’t cover travel expenses. We had a three-hour drive, but all the gas/hotel/food adds up fast!
Your son wasn’t treated in Houston was he?
We were treated in Philadelphia. Is Houston where your family went?
Yes, and we actually ended up moving here a few years ago. Not so much for his medical needs to but to plant a church! 🙂
this is a very inspiring story, thank you for sharing <3
I absolutely agree!
Thank you Bobbi!
Wow!!! What a great testimony to being wise with your finances. So glad to hear that Landon is doing well.
Thank you for sharing your story…so often we think that you have to make a high income in order to pay off debt/have no debt.
I agree with you. Choosing to live a simple life is a wonderful choice to make. Now if I can make the right choices!!!
Johnlyn, thanks for your kind words! We certainly don’t make the right choices all of the time, but we have learned the more complex we let our lives get, the more chaotic we feel.
And thanks for the sweet words about Landon- we are certainly blessed.
Wow, that is inspiring! I am so happy that things worked out well for you down that rough road. I am certainly going to absorb that story as I contemplate our financial decisions. I was not taught so well growing up and thankfully I am learning now while we are in decent shape. Thanks!
Thanks Debra. And way to go for trying to learn new things- so many people are complacent about their situation in life so it’s inspiring to see someone who wants to learn!
I’m so glad to hear your son is doing well!
We are also in a position where we will have to pay out of pocket for our child’s delivery (due in the Spring), and there is a high likelihood I will have to have a c-section. We’re debt free, and feel so blessed that our priority can be the joy of our child’s birth and not panicking over finances.
In addition, we’ll be able to write the medical expenses off our taxes for next year, which will help as well 🙂
Sara, congrats on your upcoming baby! And yes, writing off medical expenses is a plus. 🙂