How Much Does It Cost To Give Birth in a Hospital?

I often see this question being asked on face book groups of moms where I belong. The cost actually depends and they don’t come cheap and it depends what hospital, if it is a government or private, also one should consider the professional fee because some doctors could rip you off.

When I was pregnant with my first baby, I was on the same boat too, trying to figure out how much to save for my hospital bills, knowing that I would still have to pay even if I do have health insurance. I only have Philhealth as insurance so they should cover 19,000 pesos if it is caesarian and 6,000 pesos for normal delivery. I already made up my mind those time to give birth at the country side where my mom lives, I was told it should cost only two thousand pesos or around 50 dollars for caesarian and should cost only less than 10 dollars for normal delivery. So I thought, that is not really bad. I then had an emergency caesarian delivery at a government hospital there however I was shocked when the hospital bill came, it was stated 300 dollars.

I got pregnant again the next year and was already determined to give birth here in the city being more comfortable with my OB here. I opted to deliver at the private hospital near our place. Again, I asked some information from people I know who gave birth there how much did it cost them. One friend who delivered via caesarian told me they paid 70 thousand pesos or almost 1400 USD, I guess they did not have Philhealth. My other friend who delivered via caesarian paid 45 thousand pesos or a thousand dollars, and that was with philhealth. Someone who gave birth via normal delivery paid 26,000 pesos after philhealth deductions. The figures were running through my head during those times.

I gave birth a month before my expected due date, my daughter was just 8 months. Thankfully, she is a strong baby, thus didn’t need to be placed in an incubator. She was just on antibiotic for 3 days. We got out after her last dose of antibiotic was given and was billed 49,000 pesos after philhealth deductions plus another thousand pesos for take home medicines. I was very pleased with the service though, especially with my OB who would come every morning to check on me and fix my binder.

I have read once in a forum where a Filipino living in the US came here in the Philippines for a vacation. He was kind of upset because a day he was supposed to travel to Palawan and enjoy the nature there, his friend called him asking for financial help because they need to pay 100 thousand pesos (almost 2000 dollars) at the hospital where his wife gave birth. Being the good friend he is, he lent them the money he was supposed to use for his vacation but was so upset at his friend who had 9 months to prepare financially and they should have opted a government hospital instead if they didn‘t have the money. He was upset too because when his wife give birth to their baby in US, they didn’t pay anything because their insurance paid for it. That will never happen here in the Philippines especially if it is caesarian section delivery.

Giving birth here in the Philippines don’t come cheap. We have a bad health insurance system here and they don’t come free nevertheless, still it helps. If one is seeking to give birth at a government hospital and they have philhealth one should at least save not less than 12,000. They have to double their expectations, it is always better to have extra than be worried where to get the rest. If it is in a private hospital, it would depend on the prices set by the hospital, one should never forget to ask about the professional fee of doctors too because usually it is where the bill weigh the most. It should help a lot if one is enrolled on other private health care insurance because it can be used along side with philhealth. For someone planning to give birth at a private hospital, the figure should never go down to 50K. That could double, triple or even more depending on one‘s case, hospital and doctor. The private hospitals we have here in Baguio city charge reasonable prices as compared to high end private hospitals in Metro Manila.