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I would want the bells and whistles, knowing my birthing experience I would have been a wreck without my DH with me and by my side. Baby was in NICU, i had c-section, I needed my support system there.

I'm American but had DD in Canada. I will have all of my children here. My care was exceptional. We had a private room when I needed it and shared a room with another mom when we didn't need privacy. My nurse stayed with me throughout my labor and my OB was the one to deliver. All of our postpartum care was excellent and we had lactation consultants on call 24/7. My parents are both doctors in the states and were both impressed with my hospital experience here.

tl:dr no bill for me!

@Cherrybee: This one is hard for me. Generally speaking, I'm all for a Universal healthcare system--and that's because I've seen first hand how working, educated people WITH health insurance in the US can be screwed over by our healthcare system.

One example is that my brother had colon cancer (the intial discovery and treatments, then a reoccurance two years later, with more surgeries and treatments--then two more follow-up surgeries for hernia repairs due to the colon surgeries). He was a teacher with health insurance and a decent savings.

He got sick at a period that overlapped two different years--so he had to pay his deductible twice in a 4 month period, and his Out-of-pocket max was $6,000 a year. That kind of out-of-max is VERY standard in Texas, where I used to live, for a teacher. I was also a teacher there, and MY insurance was even worse---it was a $7000 out of pocket max each year.

So basically, my brother, who was probably making $48,000 a year BEFORE taxes, had to pay $12,000 cash in a period of about 4 months for his care. Then, less than 2 years later, he had to pay another $6,000, then another $6000 the year after that.

For a person making maybe 31,000 after taxes, that kind of cost is completely exorbitant. LUCKILY, he did not have children and he had some savings. So he was able to cover the first $12,000 himself. And again, luckily, my mother was financially able to kick in his next year's $6000. Then, by his last year, he'd had time to save up another $6000.

Had he had a child with day care costs, or had his car broken down, or had he not had a parent that could pitch in financially--he would have defaulted on his medical bills (which happens every single day in the US, which drives up the cost of our health care), and his credit would have been ruined.

Having said all of that-----birthing is already so scary that I would very well pay extra (depending on how much $$ we are talking about) to get a private room. In NYC, it's very common to have to pay extra to get a private room (if there's even one available), and it can be up to $1000. I would have paid that willingly if I were in the city (I would have saved up ahead of time).

So....although I favor a universal system, I would also like the option to add on private care if a person chooses.

i didn't get a chance to read previous posts, but i vote for what we have! no bill (already paid in taxes!), but still get a private room and dh gets to stay with me the whole time. no extra frills though (special food, baby items, clothing, etc!) i don't mind bringing my own clothing for the baby and some extra diapers! and i definitely don't mind having my friends/family bring me take-out etc while i'm in the hospital

I'd much prefer no privacy over the $7000 in bills we had to deal with.

That's hard to say. I ended up paying just over $3200 out of pocket (a $2400 deductible + another $800 after insurance). We didn't have steak dinners or champagne and DH was given one free meal while we were there. We did get diapers, a few kimono onesies and blankets, and post-partum health things like a sitz bath and Tucks wipes. I don't think I would have been okay with DH not being able to be there all the time, though, especially not the first night when I still had to be carried to the bathroom.

I was under the impression that as of 2014 via Obamacare, most (if not all?) of the maternity care has to be covered by your insurance (after deductible maybe?). Can anyone confirm this? I know for me, everything for me was free and we basically just had to pay for the baby, which insurance covered most of, so our total bill was relatively cheap.

We had a large private room, there was a pull-out couch that Hubs could sleep on, room service for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and immediately after birth, they wheeled in a cart FULL of food. No steak or champagne though. And visitors could come anytime! I definitely wouldn't trade any of that! It was a great experience (besides the pain of actual child birth, haha)!

@Adira: I was under the impression that, yes, Obamacare is requiring insurance companies to cover maternity and newborn care. Not sure if that is 100% true or still going to happen though. From what I read, thats supposed to start next year.

I'm a big big cheapie, so I'd much prefer the lack of hospital bill

Where is this steak dinner and free clothes hospital at?!?! I want to go there! We wont get that. We will get a private room and Mr. Hedgie will stay the entire time. We will also get slapped with a bill.

I wouldn't want the UK experience. Even if there isn't a bill attached. The private time with my baby and husband it too important to me. Also, the individualized care.

I selected a bill... I would want my husband there with me the entire time. Although I am the one carrying and birthing the baby, this is our experience together. It is important to me that as we start our family we are together to support one another through the entire process!