Childbirth Costs Research Articles

When the Bough Breaks: The Financial Burden of Childbirth and Postpartum Care by Insurance Type.

Out-of-pocket (OOP) costs related to childbirth and postpartum care may cause financial hardship, depending on type of insurance and income. We estimated OOP spending on childbirth and postpartum care and financial strain 1 year after birth, comparing Medicaid-insured births with commercially insured births. The Postpartum Assessment of Health Survey followed up with respondents to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System after a 2020 birth in six states and New York City. The survey included questions on health care costs and financial well-being. Our analytic sample consisted of 4,453 postpartum people, 1,544 with a Medicaid-insured birth and 2,909 with a commercially insured birth. We observe significant financial hardship from childbirth that persists into the postpartum year, with significant differences by insurance and income. We find Medicaid is highly financially protective relative to commercial insurance; 81.4% of Medicaid-insured births were free to the patient, compared with 15.7% of commercially insured births (p < 0.001). Six of ten commercially insured births (59%) cost over $1,000 OOP. Among respondents reporting OOP costs for childbirth, we found that Medicaid enrollees are more likely to have borrowed money from friends or family to pay for childbirth (8% vs. 1%, p < 0.001) and one in five had not made any payments 1 year postpartum (26% vs. 5% of commercially insured births, p < 0.001). Among the commercially insured, those with incomes under 200% of the federal poverty level (FPL) fared worse financially than those above 200% FPL on a number of indicators, including debt in collection (33% vs. 13%, p < 0.001) and financial worry (55% vs. 34%, p < 0.001). The cost of childbirth and postpartum health care results in significant and persistent financial hardship, particularly for families with lower income with commercial insurance. Medicaid offers greater protection for families with low income by offering reduced cost sharing for childbirth and postpartum health care, but even minimal cost sharing in Medicaid causes financial strain.

Study on The Influence of High Housing Price on Fertility Desire

In recent years, China's birth rate has been declining continuously, facing the challenge brought by population structure transformation. Nowadays, housing prices in cities are rising rapidly, while the cost of raising children is also very high, and the two important decisions of childbearing age people, housing and reproduction, occupy a lot of family resources. Therefore, this paper explores the impact of high housing prices on fertility desire and finds that high housing prices will have a negative impact on it. That is to say, high housing prices will "squeeze out" fertility desire. Based on this, this paper puts forward three suggestions: First, adhere to the principle of "houses are for living in and not for speculative investment" to improve residents' living space. Second, we will introduce measures to reduce the cost of childbirth and parenting to reduce the burden of childbirth. The third is to create a good social environment to stimulate the birth rate.

An Unacceptable Cost of Childbirth: Obstetric fistula, a devastating but preventable trauma, is common in places where maternal health care is inaccessible.

An Unacceptable Cost of Childbirth: Obstetric fistula, a devastating but preventable trauma, is common in places where maternal health care is inaccessible.

Why Is It Challenging to Reverse the Ongoing Decline in China's Birth Rate Despite the Lenient Birth Policies? -An Analysis from Economic Perspective

In response to the potential crises posed by an aging population and labor shortages, the Chinese government took steps to address these challenges after ending the one-child policy. These efforts involved the gradual relaxation of birth policies, transitioning from the two-child policy to the more recent three-child policy. Despite these policy shifts, the persistent downward trajectory of birth rates has shown little sign of abating. This study attempts to analyze the reasons for this phenomenon from an economic perspective; in the pursuit of addressing the multifaceted challenge of declining birth rates, a nuanced understanding of these intertwined economic factors is crucial. These economic elements form a complex tapestry that includes soaring housing prices, the burden of mortgages, expenses associated with childbirth, the costs linked with raising children, and the opportunity cost of childbirth to career women. High property prices make the prospect of homeownership daunting for young families, further compounded by the financial obligations of mortgages. Additionally, the financial implications of education and child-rearing expenses and the opportunity cost of childbirth to career women present substantial considerations for prospective parents, often contributing to the reconsideration of family size.

Judges' Perspectives on the Determination of the Amount of Mut'ah, Childbirth Costs, and Child Sustenance in Divorce Cases (The study on the Court’s Decision Number 808/Pdt.G/2021/Pa. Kab. Kdr)

Judges' Perspectives on the Determination of the Amount of Mut'ah, Childbirth Costs, and Child Sustenance in Divorce Cases (The study on the Court’s Decision Number 808/Pdt.G/2021/Pa. Kab. Kdr)

Gender disparities in job creation of RCEP in China: a social accounting matrix approach

ABSTRACT This paper describes the gender disparities in the potential creation of Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) for China. Using the latest available data, social accounting matrix for 149 sectors, combined with employment satellite accounts based on China’s seventh census published in 2022, we analyse gender disparities in the potential job creation from the RCEP. The results show that the RCEP will potentially create more than 4.08 million jobs in China, with a particularly large increase in low-value-added sectors such as agriculture, light industry and low-end manufacturing. Imports are likely to create more jobs than exports. The potential job creation for females is more than 1.58 million, which is still 910,000 less than for males. While the RCEP may create jobs for females, it may expand the gender and skills disparities. The increased rate of tertiary education for Chinese females has not resulted in significant gains in current female employment. Therefore, measures to reduce taxes on imports and exports, share the cost of childbirth between employer and husband, and upgrade industries to create more high-skilled jobs are important to address the gender disparity in employment in China.

Financial incentives and delivery care: Evidence from the Safe Delivery Incentive Program in Nepal.

This paper examines the effects of the Safe Delivery Incentive Program in Nepal, a cash transfer program that reduced the costs of childbirth in healthcare facilities. Women giving birth for the first, second, or third time (below-cutoff) became eligible in 2005, and women giving birth for the fourth time or more (above-cutoff) became eligible two years later. Using a difference-in-differences design, I find that below-cutoff women in high Human Development Index (HDI) districts increased facility delivery by 8.8 percentage points. Despite larger cost reductions, below-cutoff women in low HDI districts did not increase facility delivery but increased home delivery with skilled personnel by 4.8 percentage points. The program had no impact on above-cutoff women, who become eligible 2years into the program. I suggest that pre-existing barriers such as poor infrastructure of roads and facilities, customs, liquidity constraints, and lack of program awareness limited the program's effectiveness.

The Arrival of the Three-child Policy: Content Analysis of Chinese and Western Media Attitudes of the Policy’s Impact on Chinese women

This study focuses on the media attitudes towards the impact of China’s three-child policy on Chinese female group from 2020 to 2022. The author selected 103 news reports about the three-child policy from Chinese and western media. To survey their media attitudes, content analysis was used to examine these news reports. This study also developed a new integrated framework to extract women's rights-related topics and determine the degree of positive or negative media attitude to these topics. It turns out that there is an enormous difference between Chinese media and western media in their attitudes towards the three-child polic t5 y. Chinese media showed the most positive attitude towards the topic of "providing government incentives for women", while western media showed the most negative attitude towards the topic of "reducing the cost of childbirth for women". Compared with other aspects, western media hold a relatively more cheerful outlook on "providing government incentives for women". The objective of this paper is to help policy makers better monitor the direction of public opinion and improve this policy by comparing Chinese and western media attitudes on related topics.

The Effect of Family Fertility Support Policies on Fertility, Their Contribution, and Policy Pathways to Fertility Improvement in OECD Countries.

The cost of childbirth has been confirmed as a vital factor in families' fertility decision-making, and family welfare policies are capable of compensating for the increase in household living expenses regarding childbirth, such that the country's fertility situation can be optimized. In this study, the fertility promotion effects of family welfare policies in OECD(Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries are investigated through regression analysis, grey correlation (GRA), and the fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis fsQCA method. As indicated by the results: (1) Family welfare policies notably boost fertility, and the boosting effect is long-lasting. However, this boost will be weakened in countries where fertility rates remain below 1.5. (2) The contribution of welfare policy measures to the fertility-promotion effect varies by country. The contribution of cash benefits is highest in over half of the countries worldwide, the contribution of relevant services and in-kind expenditure is highest in 29% of the countries, and that of tax incentive expenditure is highest in 14% of the countries. (3) The policy mix to boost fertility also varies according to the social context, with three policy groups derived using the fsQCA method. To be specific, the core antecedent conditions comprise cash benefits, relevant services, and in-kind expenditure. On that basis, China should pay attention to the following three points when formulating family welfare policies to tackle their demographic challenges. First, a system of family welfare policies should be developed as early as possible in the context of increasingly severe demographic issues since the incentive effect of family welfare policies will be weakened in countries with chronically low fertility rates. Second, the effects of improvements vary by country, and China should comprehensively consider its national circumstances when formulating and dynamically adjusting the mix of government fertility support policies in accordance with its social development. Third, employment is the main means of securing family income and takes on critical significance to sustaining families. Unemployment exerts a significant disincentive effect, such that it is imperative to reduce youth unemployment and enhance the quality of youth employment. On that basis, the disincentive effect of unemployment on fertility can be reduced.

The distribution of reproductive costs for female employees in enterprises - an analysis of gender discrimination in the occupational process

The phenomenon of gender discrimination in the occupational process is mainly due to the fact that in the process of distributing the total cost of female employees during pregnancy and childbirth among individuals, enterprises and the state. And female employees are unable to compete and bear a large amount of cost. Then to solve this problem, socialized system for sharing the cost of childbirth should be established.

Change in costs to funders of maternity care over time: an analysis of Queensland births.

Objective To describe change in costs to different funders over time for women giving birth in Queensland between 2012 and 2018. Methods A whole-of-population linked administrative dataset was used that contained all health service use in Queensland for women who gave birth between 1 July 2012 and 30 June 2018 and their babies. Aggregated costs for mother and baby from pregnancy to 12 months postpartum were used to compare the change in costs to funders over time. Results There was an increase in mean total cost to all funders per birth in the public system and private system from 2012 to 2018. North West Hospital and Health Service (HHS) had the highest mean total cost (in Australian dollars) in 2018 (A$42 353), while home births had the lowest (A$6105). For the majority of HHSs the proportion of births with a positive birth outcome (as defined by a composite outcome measure) has remained largely static or declined during this time period. Cairns and Hinterland HHS and Townsville HHS had the largest declines of 15% and 16% respectively, while mean total cost to all funders rose 36.39% and 46.41%, respectively. Conclusions There has been an increase over time across Queensland in the cost of childbirth in public hospitals and in the private system, while the cost of home birth has remained static. For most HHSs this increase in cost is also associated with little change or a decline in the percentage of births with a positive outcome. Increases in cost are therefore not being translated into better outcomes for women and their babies. Routine performance monitoring of cost, quality and safety should be adopted to ensure the provision of high value maternity care in Australia.

Impact of extended maternity leave on women's employment issues

In the context of the “three-child” policy, the newly introduced “extended maternity leave” policy has significantly increased women’s workplace pressure and had little effect on promoting their willingness to give birth. Only by reducing workplace pressure and childcare costs will women dare to give birth; for employers, especially non-public enterprises, only if the government and society reasonably share the costs of childbirth will enterprises be motivated to accept and encourage female workers to give birth. Encourage childbirth cannot simply from the extension of women’s maternity leave to start, with social values and the status between men and women, family responsibilities change, the development and implementation of policies must be from work, life, to consider the chain reaction, to balance the joint responsibility of men and women to give birth.

한국의 극저출산에 대한 미시경제학적 분석과 대응방향

Korea’s extremely low fertility rate can be viewed as a result of aggregation of rational choices regarding fertility at the individual level. The economic motive for childbirth has largely declined due to the increase in childrearing costs and the weakening of private old-age support norms. The social motive for marriage and childbirth in accordance with the prevailing norms of society is also weakening along with the spread of non-marriage and non-childbirth due to changes in values. Instead, the natural motive for forming one’s own family through marriage and childbirth exists to a considerable extent in Korean young people, but it is not fully realized due to the high cost structure of childbirth and child rearing. Therefore, it is needed to focus on supporting the realization of natural motives for childbirth, and promote the formation of new families. In addition, since community-based bridging social capital shows a positive correlation with marriage intention and the number of children desired, measures to support regional community culture and revitalization of caring communities may be effective. Meanwhile, it is also necessary to reduce the opportunity cost of childbirth and the burden of high-cost, high-intensity parenting, and promote gender equality and efficient division of labor at work and at home.

Real-world prescription patterns for reproductive assistance patients in China: A trend analysis from 2016 to 2020

Background: Pharmacotherapy is one of the primary treatments for patients with Assisted reproductive technology (ART). Despite the publication of various research on ART treatment, there is no clear conclusion regarding the choice of drug treatment in China. Our research intends to examine the trend of widely prescribed medications for ART patients in China. For instance, the study examines the logic of drug indications, usage, and dose in patient prescriptions. Methods: We did a cross-sectional study of the data from the hospital prescription analysis cooperation project supervised by the China Medical Association. The information is extracted from the prescriptions of reproductive assistance outpatients from January 2016 to December 2020. We used the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) classification to quantify the frequency of drug use and the categories of drugs. We manually extract the information of patients who require ART treatment, divide the patients into various age groups and geographies, followed by study the indications, utilization, and rationale of the most important therapeutic medications. Results: Among the 225225 patients included in this study, Guangzhou (47.83%), Shanghai (19.84%), and Zhengzhou (9.36%) were the top three cities. In the past 5years, the average age was 32.99, and 60.38% of women were between the age of 25 and 34. The main therapeutic medicines taken by each patient, primarily hormone therapies, were tallied. Eleven types of primary therapeutic medicines were employed. Different progesterone preparations (47472, 21.08%), chorionic gonadotrophin gondotrophin for injection (38932, 17.29%), dydrogesterone tables (33591, 14.91%), and triptorelin for injection (26959, 11.97%) rounded out the top five. According to the data on outpatient medications in major cities in China, the variety and proportion of injections are the highest, including the most frequent types of ovulation induction and urotropia, as well as triptorelin and progesterone. Even though the total dosage of urotropin was the highest in 5years, it showed a declining trend. The dosages of progesterone and didroxyprogesterone increased, with progesterone showing the most rapid increase. The top five most expensive prescription medications are triptorelin, urotropin, progesterone, didroxyprogesterone, and leuprorelin, in that order. Goserelin, leuprorelin, triptorelin, growth hormone, and didroxyprogesterone are among the top five most expensive medications per capita. Conclusion: The average age of patients has not increased considerably over the past 5years. However, the opportunity cost of childbirth for women has increased, which has significantly enhanced their willingness for childbearing intentions. The medication selection is reasonable overall. In this study, the recommended dosages of first-line medicines (urotropin and chorionic gonadotropin) are likewise high. In contrast, the dosage of oral first-line treatment for ovarian stimulation in unexplained infertility is modest, and the dosage of progesterone is steadily increasing. In addition, the price of certain medicines is high, which will increase the patients' financial burden. Future research will focus on enhancing the degree of rational drug use among outpatients and realizing the economical, safe, and effective use of pharmaceuticals to lessen the economic burden of patients.

Cost of childbirth in Upper West Region of Ghana: a cross-sectional study

BackgroundOut-of-pocket payment (OOPP) is reported to be a major barrier to seeking maternal health care especially among the poor and can expose households to a risk of catastrophic expenditure and impoverishment.This study examined the OOPPs women made during childbirth in the Upper West region of Ghana.MethodsWe carried out a cross-sectional study and interviewed women who gave birth between January 2013 and December 2017. Data on socio-demographic characteristics, place of childbirth, as well as direct cost (medical and non-medical) were collected from respondents. The costs of childbirth were estimated from the patient perspective. Logistics regression was used to assess the factors associated with catastrophic payments cost. All analyses were done using STATA 16.0.ResultsOut of the 574 women interviewed, about 71% (406/574) reported OOPPs on their childbirth. The overall average direct medical and non-medical expenditure women made on childbirth was USD 7.5. Cost of drugs (USD 8.0) and informal payments (UDD 5.7) were the main cost drivers for medical and non-medical costs respectively. Women who were enrolled into the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) spent a little less (USD 7.5) than the uninsured women (USD 7.9). Also, household childbirth expenditure increased from primary health facilities level (community-based health planning and services compound = USD7.2; health centre = USD 6.0) to secondary health facilities level (hospital = USD11.0); while home childbirth was USD 4.8. Overall, at a 10% threshold, 21% of the respondents incurred catastrophic health expenditure. Regression analysis showed that place of childbirth and household wealth were statistically significant factors associated with catastrophic payment.ConclusionsThe costs of childbirth were considerably high with a fifth of households spending more than one-tenth of their monthly income on childbirth and therefore faced the risk of catastrophic payments and impoverishment. Given the positive effect of NHIS on cost of childbirth, there is a need to intensify efforts to improve enrolment to reduce direct medical costs as well as sensitization and monitoring to reduce informal payment. Also, the identified factors that influence cost of childbirth should be considered in strategies to reduce cost of childbirth.

A time-driven activity-based costing approach for identifying variability in costs of childbirth between and within types of delivery

BackgroundRecently, time-driven activity-based costing (TDABC) is put forward as an alternative, more accurate costing method to calculate the cost of a medical treatment because it allows the assignment of costs directly to patients. The objective of this paper is the application of a time-driven activity-based method in order to estimate the cost of childbirth at a maternal department. Moreover, this study shows how this costing method can be used to outline how childbirth costs vary according to considered patient and disease characteristics. Through the use of process mapping, TDABC allows to exactly identify which activities and corresponding resources are impacted by these characteristics, leading to a more detailed understanding of childbirth cost.MethodsA prospective cohort study design is performed in a maternity department. Process maps were developed for two types of childbirth, vaginal delivery (VD) and caesarean section (CS). Costs were obtained from the financial department and capacity cost rates were calculated accordingly.ResultsOverall, the cost of childbirth equals €1894,12 and is mainly driven by personnel costs (89,0%). Monitoring after birth is the most expensive activity on the pathway, costing €1149,70. Significant cost variations between type of delivery were found, with VD costing €1808,66 compared to €2463,98 for a CS. Prolonged clinical visit (+ 33,3 min) and monitoring (+ 775,2 min) in CS were the main contributors to this cost difference. Within each delivery type, age, parity, number of gestation weeks and education attainment were found to drive cost variations. In particular, for VD an age > 25 years, nulliparous, gestation weeks > 40 weeks and higher education attainment were associated with higher costs. Similar results were found within CS for age, parity and number of gestation weeks.ConclusionsTDABC is a valuable approach to measure and understand the variability in costs of childbirth and its associated drivers over the full care cycle. Accordingly, these findings can inform health care providers, managers and regulators on process improvements and cost containment initiatives.

Othering of Forced Migrant Women in Maternal Care. Becoming a Mother – Being constructed as Other: Results of a qualitative study in Germany

Abstract Refugee women are legally entitled to all necessary medical services related to pregnancy - including medical check-ups, childbirth costs, and midwifery assistance. However, studies indicate that they face structural barriers to maternal care access and are at greater risk of having poor pregnancy outcomes. This study aimed to explore the role of attributions of Otherness and practices of Othering in maternal care and the consequences for the quality of maternal care for forced migrant women in Germany. Qualitative semi-structured problem-centered interviews were conducted in three regions. The study sample includes 64 health care professionals (social workers, midwives, gynecologists) as well as 15 forced migrant women who recently gave birth to a child. Interviews were analyzed via framework analysis to identify perceptions, attitudes, and contextual conditions of providing maternal care to female refugees and to examine their experiences in the German maternity health care system. Most professionals showed an implicit, rarely questioned notion of an ostensible center of motherhood and parenthood. The qualitative results show how forced migrant women are constructed as other to this presupposed center of mothers. The practice of Othering occurs individually by health care professionals as well as structurally by the German asylum system and health care system. Both exclusionary and benevolent processes of Othering come into play. The effects of those attributions of Otherness are described from the perception of refugee new mothers concerning their pathways, resources, and obstacles in maternal care. Opportunities to achieve adequate maternal care for mothers and parents constructed as others from an ostensible and rarely questioned center of motherhood and parenthood are presented and discussed. To face diversity in maternal care, the notion of the center needs to be critically discussed as well as different aspects of consequences of Othering.

How to Аssess Еnvironmental Safety?

The analysis of the main approaches to the assessment of environmental safety is presented. The requirements for environmental safety measurement are justified. The relationship between safety and development, safety and danger are revealed. The approach to the environmental safety methodology is proposed. The goals of environmental safety are justified. The article analyzes life expectancy as the indicator of environmental safety and its dependence on other priorities of the state development, such as the cost of childbirth and raising children, support for pregnant and nursing mothers, care for pensioners (the size of pensions, their indexation, retirement age), the cost of ensuring industrial and transport safety, etc. The indicators that determine the quality (state) of the natural environment as maximum permissible environmental loads and the degree of proximity of the ecosystem state to the border of its stability are considered in the article. The possibility and advantages of using the assessment of the photosynthetic organisms (photosynthetics) state as the indicator of environmental safety are substantiated. The possibility of using the other integral biota state indicators to assess environmental safety is shown in the article.

Costs of Severe Maternal Morbidity in U.S. Commercially Insured and Medicaid Populations: An Updated Analysis.

Background: The most common reason for hospitalization in the United States is childbirth. The costs of childbirth are substantial.Materials and Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study of hospital deliveries identified in the MarketScan® Commercial and Medicaid health insurance claim databases. Women with an inpatient birth in the calendar year 2016 were included. Severe maternal morbidity (SMM) was identified using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention algorithm of 21 International Classification of Diseases-10 codes. Mean costs and cost ratios for women with and without SMM were reported. Generalized linear models were used to analyze demographic and clinical variables influencing delivery costs.Results: We identified 1,486 women in the Commercial population, who had a birth in 2016 and met the criteria for SMM. The total mean per-patient costs of care for women with and without SMM were $50,212 and $23,795, respectively. In the Medicaid population there were 29,763 births, of which 342 met the criteria for SMM. The total mean per-patient costs of care for women with and without SMM were $26,513 and $9,652, respectively. A multifetal gestation, a cesarean delivery, maternal age, and pregnancy-related complications were independently predictive of increased delivery costs in both Commercial and Medicaid populations.Conclusions: The occurrence of SMM was associated with an increase in maternity-related costs of 111% in the Commercial and 175% in the Medicaid population. Some of the factors associated with increased delivery hospitalization costs could be treated or avoided.

Patterns of Use of a Price Transparency Tool for Childbirth Among Pregnant Individuals With Commercial Insurance

When introduced a decade ago, patient-facing price transparency tools had low use rates and were largely not associated with changes in spending. Little is known about how such tools are used by pregnant individuals in anticipation of childbirth, a shoppable service with increasing out-of-pocket spending. To measure changes over time in the patterns and characteristics of use of a price transparency tool by pregnant individuals, and to identify the association between price transparency tool use, coinsurance, and childbirth spending. This descriptive cross-sectional study of 2 cohorts used data from a US commercial health insurance company that launched a web-based price transparency tool in 2010. Data on all price transparency tool queries for 2 periods (January 1, 2011, to December 31, 2012, and January 1, 2015, to December 31, 2016) were obtained. The sample included enrollees aged 19 to 45 years who had a delivery episode during 2 periods (November 1, 2011, to December 31, 2012, or November 1, 2015, to December 31, 2016) and were continuously enrolled for the 10 months prior to delivery (N = 253 606). Access to a web-based price transparency tool that provided individualized out-of-pocket price estimates for vaginal and cesarean deliveries. The primary outcomes were searches on the price transparency tool by delivery mode (vaginal or cesarean), timing (first, second, or third trimester), and individual characteristics (age at childbirth, rurality, pregnancy risk status, coinsurance exposure, area educational attainment, and area median household income). Another outcome was the association of out-of-pocket childbirth spending with price transparency tool use. The sample included 253 606 pregnant individuals, of whom 131 224 (51.7%) were in the 2011 to 2012 cohort and 122 382 (48.3%) were in the 2015 to 2016 cohort. In the 2015 to 2016 cohort, the mean (SD) age was 31 years (5.2 years) and most individuals had coinsurance for delivery (94 251 [77.0%]). Price searching increased from 5.9% in the 2011 to 2012 cohort to 13.0% in the 2015 to 2016 cohort. In the 2015 to 2016 cohort, 43.9% of searchers' first price query was in their first trimester. The adjusted probability of searching was lower for individuals with a high-risk pregnancy due to a previous cesarean delivery (11.5%; 95% CI, 11.0%-12.1%) vs individuals with low-risk pregnancy (13.4%; 95% CI, 12.9%-14.0%). Use increased monotonically with coinsurance, from 9.2% (95% CI, 8.7%-9.8%) among individuals with no coinsurance to 15.0% (95% CI, 14.4%-15.5%) among individuals with 11% or higher coinsurance. After adjusting for covariates, searching was positively associated with out-of-pocket delivery episode spending. Among patients with 11% coinsurance or higher, early and late searchers spent more out of pocket ($59.57 [95% CI, $33.44-$85.96] and $73.33 [95% CI, $32.04-$115.29], respectively), compared with never searchers. The results of this cross-sectional study indicate that the proportion of pregnant individuals who sought price information before childbirth more than doubled within the first 6 years of availability of a price transparency tool. These findings suggest that price information may help individuals anticipate their out-of-pocket childbirth costs.