How much do midwives cost in the United States?

my birthing center (in SW florida) charges a $5,000 flat fee for a center or home birth and all prenatal and postnatal care – about half the cost of a hospital birth and 1/3 the cost of a c-section which you are more likely to have in a hospital setting. additional costs include initial and 26-28 week blood labs and a birthing kit (all the supplies needed for a center or home birth). you can also choose to have and pay for ultrasound(s) and doula services. total cost for everything (including one ultrasound and doula services) would be about $6,500.

thankfully i have really, really good insurance through my employer – i was offered the job the same day i found out i was pregnant – so the midwife services will cost about $1,600 and i have until week 32 to pay that off in whatever way i'm comfortable with.

if paying cash only (which i'd planned to do before getting insurance) there is an initial discount of 20% off the top and then additional discounts based on how fast you pay down the balance. this particular birthing center also takes medicaid and will help women through the application process.

i knew midwifery care was the way i wanted to go long before i got pregnant and that i would have paid MORE than a hospital birth to get the control and personal autonomy that comes with this kind of care. i've not been pressured to do anything except what's right for me. my first visit with my midwife was 3 hours, most of it spent talking, and my partner was right there with me. if something doesn't feel right and i need to see my midwife, she's a phone call away and will drop everything to meet me for an exam or just to chat. the birthing center serves as a hang out space, library, resource hub, etc. i will get extensive childbirth education through a series of classes offered at the center. there is postnatal care including home visits, breastfeeding support, baby wearing instruction, etc. it's all included in the experience. these are things you just can't get at a regular ObGYN and they are worth every penny and then some.

I'm in illinois, where it's extremely difficult to find midwives and impossible to have a midwife attended home birth. I've found one of the few midwife organizations in the area which operates out of a hospital alternative birthing center and it looks like my costs are going to be somewhere right over $6000. The hospital fees are about half of that, so you can really see where having a home birth would lower the cost. Still, the midwives I've met here are amazing and open to payment plans and even discount everything if you can pay on time with cash!

In 2008 my Portland, OR midwife charged $2,500 for our homebirth, paid by the 36th week. She accepted pretty much any payment method, but we paid by CC in installments ($500 here, $1000 there, as we repaid the CC). Her services included being on-call 24/7, regular pre-natal visits, advise about anything and everything, and access to her library (research about vaccination, etc.), and a tub for a home-water-birth, if desired. She was amazing and I'm definitely planning on contacting her again, if/when I get pregnant again.

We were disappointed to find that our insurance, which claimed to "cover midwives from an approved list", did not approve any midwives in our area when we had our son. I have since talked to other moms who said their insurance played the same game- claiming to cover midwife services or birth centers, just "none in your area," even though we've lived in two cities with plenty of non-hospital birthing options. I don't know if this is a common occurrence but its interesting to look into.

My limited experience thus far seems to indicate that around San Francisco it seems to be around 4000-6000 for pre/postnatal care and birthing. I've also seen many midwives offer payment plans as well. Good luck!

i'd talk to you local midwives. they'll be very understanding about your questions. our homebirth midwife has a birth fee of $2000. now she is a traveling midwife who lives in another state then i do so each prenatal visit is $50…BUT if a few of us moms who are using her get together at one persons house that $50 is split between us all. midwives are very relaxed. she's never asked us for a dime yet, but the 2K is due on birthday. she told us upfront if that would be a prob to talk with her and we'd figure something out. GOOD LUCK! homebirths ROCK!

My homebirth midwife charged $2000 for everything, but I worked out a deal with her where I paid part of it by cooking some freezer meals for her. That's one great thing about HB MWs… imagine asking an OB if you could pay him with food!!

Thankfully any sort of setup, may it be a hospital, birthing center or- home birth is free of charge here in Germany inlcuding the pre and post visits of midwifes etc.

I decided to go for a midwife-only hospital birth. Which means I will be in the hospital with a connected childrens clinic, but I will only see 2 midwifes during the entire stay pre, during and post birth. no doctors needed.

in case something goes wrong (no it won't – knock on wood) with me or the child during birth, there is always the option to have the midwifes call a doctor, or have the doctors from the childrens clinic come over.

That is one thing I am learning as I talk to friends in other countries as they have children. Most of them their birthing and such is covered, and some even get paid, longer maternity leave. I really wish the US would get on the band wagon with that one. Most young women working low end jobs are having to return within a month or so of giving birth just to be able to make the bills, or due to their jobs threatening them. It's a sad state of affairs.