The Hidden Costs of Prenatal Care

December 4, 2025
8:06 pm

By Jennifer Jane, BSN, RN

Pregnancy is supposed to be about taking the best care of yourself and your growing baby, but often it’s also filled with the stress of trying to figure out insurance coverage and baffling bills that keep showing up in your mailbox month after month. What are all these bills for?

Let’s talk about what prenatal care costs in the U.S. — scheduled prenatal visits, ultrasounds, labs, genetic testing, glucose screening, vaccines, and even more ultrasounds.

Then we’ll look at how Lyvona’s tools can help you know more about what to expect, so you can feel more prepared when it seems like the bills just don’t stop.

What does prenatal care cost?

Routine prenatal care and screenings should be covered at no cost with most insurance plans as long as your provider bills them as preventive care. If paying out of pocket, some providers offer cost savings for services.

💲One major study of employer insurance plans found that pregnancy, birth, and postpartum care costs average about $20,416, with families paying around $2,700–$3,000 out of pocket. These costs can increase with c-sections or pregnancy, birth, or postpartum complications (1).

💲It can be difficult to find a breakdown of costs specifically for prenatal care. Usually, prenatal care is lumped in with birth and postpartum costs, and the costs vary from state to state. The Health Care Cost Institute breaks costs down this way: About 25% of expectant mom costs (about $4,700) go toward prenatal care — made up of ultrasounds (35% of the prenatal costs), office visits (30% of prenatal costs), laboratory fees (18% of prenatal costs), and other tests or procedures (17% of prenatal costs) — 60% (about $11,300) of expectant mom costs are for the delivery, and 15% (around $2,800) of costs are for postpartum care (2).

💲Healthcare costs for a pregnancy complicated by gestational diabetes may be 25% higher than an uncomplicated pregnancy (3).

💲The cost of treatment for hypertension disorders in pregnancy may be up to 80% higher than an uncomplicated pregnancy (4).

💲The cost of prenatal care is not just one simple bill. It’s dozens of bills scattered over several months, for:

Prenatal visits
Routine bloodwork
Urine tests
Multiple ultrasounds
Genetic screening (which is often not fully covered)
Glucose screening
Vaccines (Tdap, flu, RSV)
Unscheduled visits when something doesn’t feel right to you

Studies on pregnant and postpartum women show that:

About 60% of pregnant and postpartum women report health care being unaffordable, and 54% report general financial stress. Worry over medical bills, medical debt, and meeting basic expenses is common (5).
Financial hardship after birth is linked to ongoing stress and difficulty paying for essentials like housing and food (6).

Costs vary from state to state, and it’s difficult to find cost breakdowns for each state, which is another reason Lyvona.com can be helpful in understanding pregnancy costs in your state.

Cost transparency doesn’t magically lower costs, but it can turn stressful, surprise bills into expenses you can plan for, give you time to budget for costs, or set up payment plans to help spread the costs out over time.

This is why Lyvona exists: to make pregnancy care easier to understand and more predictable by using confidential, AI-powered tools and a supportive community instead of leaving you to figure out the confusing roller coaster costs of pregnancy care alone.

Lyvona.com is the rare resource online that provides it all — cost, insurance, and medical professional moderated peer support specifically for women sharing their questions, costs, and experiences around pregnancy and birth, and a resource to confidentially upload your bills to make sure you’re not being double-charged.

Prenatal care cost breakdown:

Standard prenatal visits

A typical, uncomplicated pregnancy includes 10–15 prenatal visits

Without insurance, routine prenatal appointments are often listed at $90–$500+ per visit (7).
With insurance, many people pay only a copay (usually $20–$50) for diagnostic services, but plans vary, and you may have to pay the full cost of the visit until you meet your deductible – check with your plan.
With Medicaid, your visits are usually covered with no out of pocket costs

Those visits are often billed together with ultrasounds, screenings, or labs, which means a single prenatal visit might hide a few different charges.

Lab testing

About 18% of prenatal spending goes to labs—blood tests, urine tests, screenings, etc (2).

Some common labs and typical price ranges:

Initial prenatal testing (CBC, blood type, etc): $200–$800
Routine urine testing: $10–$30 each
Additional lab testing (thyroid checks, iron checks): another $50–$200 per test

Even with insurance, you may need to pay these costs out of pocket before you meet your deductible, before any costs are covered by insurance, if any are coded as diagnostic.

Research backs up how much this hurts:

Studies show that cost-related barriers lead some pregnant women to delay or skip recommended care (8).

Ultrasounds

Ultrasound pictures are adorable and routine, but they are not cheap.

One cost study found that about 35% of prenatal spending is on ultrasounds (2).

Typical ultrasounds in a low-risk pregnancy:

Dating ultrasound in early pregnancy to determine how many weeks pregnant you are
Nuchal translucency (NT) scan around 11–13 weeks, to check for certain genetic risk factors
Anatomy scan around 18–22 weeks to check baby’s growth and gender
Third-trimester follow-up growth scans if concerns exist

Cost reality:

Without insurance, an ultrasound in the U.S. costs around $400 on average, but can range from $200 to $800 depending on your state (9).
With employer insurance, you might need to pay the entire cost before you meet your deductible, or pay a copay, or pay 20% coinsurance after you meet your deductible (for example: 20% of a $400 ultrasound charge = $80 per ultrasound out of pocket after you meet your deductible and before your out-of-pocket maximum is met).

If you get four ultrasounds with a high-deductible plan, it can cost you $300–$800 out of pocket just for ultrasounds!

Genetic testing

Genetic testing to detect chromosomal abnormalities or inherited conditions is a major source of expensive surprise bills. Genetic testing isn’t always covered by insurance, so call your plan to check ahead of time.

Common tests:

Noninvasive prenatal testing (NIPT): screens for chromosomal conditions like Down syndrome (trisomy 21) or Edwards syndrome (trisomy 18) (10).
Carrier screening: optional testing to determine if you carry genes for inherited conditions like cystic fibrosis, Tay Sachs disease, fragile X syndrome, or sickle cell disease (11).

Cost ranges:

NIPT: labs are usually around $800–$2,000+.
Carrier screening tests can cost $300–$1,000+.

Noninvasive prenatal testing is a highly sensitive screen for chromosomal abnormalities and can be helpful in early detection, allowing time for informed decision-making and planning (12).

But some plans:

Only cover NIPT if you’re over 35 or high ris
Don’t pay anything toward costs until you meet your deductible
Cover just part of the cost, even after you meet your deductible, leaving you with hundreds of dollars in testing costs

Glucose screening

Around 24–28 weeks, most pregnant women undergo a glucose screening test to screen for gestational diabetes.

You’ll experience:

Drink a sugary drink
Have a blood test to check your blood glucose level
A longer 3-hour test may be needed if the first one is abnormal

This is often covered as a preventive test. The one-hour screen plus lab processing can range from $50–$200+, depending on the lab.
If you need the 3-hour test, you’ll have more blood draws and potential lab charges.

Keep in mind, for high-deductible employer plans, every lab bill may need to be paid out of pocket until you meet your deductible.

Third-trimester extras: vaccines, Rhogam, and additional visits for complications

More costs that can show up in later prenatal visits:

Tdap vaccine to protect your baby from pertussis/whooping cough
Flu and RSV vaccines, if your doctor recommends them, are usually covered, but can cost, depending on your plan.
Rhogam injection for Rh-negative pregnancies is usually covered, but depending on your plan, may need to be paid out of pocket before you meet your deductible and out of pocket max.
Additional visits when you’re not sure if you’re in labor, or feel you or your baby need to be checked, can be billed as emergency care, which can cost more in copays or coinsurance if you haven’t met your deductible and/or out-of-pocket max.

Vaccines in pregnancy are medically important, and research shows that not getting these recommended vaccines in pregnancy can increase risks for both mom and baby. But financial worries are real and lead some moms to skip recommended care (8).

Lyvona helps take the mystery out of prenatal care bills

Lyvona exists to help with this!

☑️ Lyvona’s goal is to make healthcare understandable by combining community of pregnant and new moms sharing their experiences and AI-powered education and cost transparency tools so you can figure out pregnancy care costs with more confidence and support.

☑️ Lyvona offers cost modeling tools so you can get answers to questions like “What if I deliver in January vs December?” and deductible calculators to show how the timing of your baby’s birth affects what you end up paying.

☑️ Lyvona’s communities help moms and dads get support for their actual bills and hospital charges, not just random estimates.

☑️ Lyvona has a confidential, AI-powered tool, Lumin AI, that helps answer pregnancy- related questions, check your doctor and hospital bills for errors, and compare prices for doctor visits and tests.

How Lyvona can help you

Imagine you just found out you are pregnant. Here’s how you could use Lyvona:

1. What prenatal costs to expect:

Using Lyvona’s education and community, you can outline realistic care costs:

10–15 prenatal visits

Standard labs and glucose test
2–3 ultrasounds for an uncomplicated pregnancy
Vaccines (Tdap, flu, RSV)
Optional genetic testing

2. Plug your information into Lyvona’s cost modeling and deductible calculator

With Lyvona’s tools, you can:

Enter your deductible, copays, and coinsurance, then:
Model different scenarios, such as:

What would costs look like if I deliver at the end of this year compared to delivering next year after my deductible resets?
Different levels of prenatal testing and screening costs – basic vs. more specialized testing
Costs of delivery at a birthing center instead of a hospital
What can I expect my costs to be after I meet my deductible?
Help you find cash-friendly providers for lower self-pay costs if you don’t have insurance

Lyvona’s cost modeling can show the estimated out-of-pocket costs instead of getting surprise after surprise in the mail.

3. Use transparency tools to compare where you get labs and ultrasounds

Lyvona’s focus on cost transparency means you can:

Look for obgyns, lab centers, and imaging centers in your area that keep prices lower for self-pay or high-deductible patients
Find answers to questions, like:

How much will my plan pay for an ultrasound?

Is there a less expensive imaging or lab center in my network?

Lyvona’s communities also share tips for arranging payment plans, which can help avoid delayed care due to cost.

4. Test decisions before you commit

Lyvona lets you run scenarios so you can test choices like:

Elective induction of labor that might cross over into a new deductible year
Delivering at one hospital compared to another
Choosing between the types of prenatal testing you want or need
Comparing prices at different imaging centers

Instead of finding out months later that your extra ultrasound cost you $600 in coinsurance costs because you hadn’t yet met your out-of-pocket max, you can project potential costs ahead of time and plan for bills.

You don’t have to go through it alone

If you’ve ever stared at your bills during your pregnancy and wondered how just one visit could cost hundreds of dollars, you’re one of many.

There are hidden costs of prenatal care, confusion about what is covered and what isn’t, routine care that you end up paying out of pocket for (depending on your plan and where you are with your deductible and out-of-pocket max), and unexpected charges or complications that end up costing a lot more than expected.

The healthcare system is confusing, but you don’t have to go through it alone.

With helpful tools designed for you, like Lyvona’s cost modeling, deductible calculators, educational content, and real mom stories for guidance, you can turn a pile of bewildering bills into a clear, understood plan—so your energy can go — not to worrying about insurance coverage and bills — but to growing a precious, new human being.

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