In America, where childbirth can easily come with a five-figure price tag, and where half of the people don't have 500 dollars to their name?

this is a strange cross roads. isn't it?

my wife gave birth 18 months ago, we have good insurance and a lot of family that gave us a lot of stuff we needed as gifts. without that we would easily be on the very upper end of the 5 figures by now.

Upper end of 5 figures is somewhere more than $50,000. Unless you went to an out of network hospital, and the kid ended up in the NICU, I doubt the total would be that high.

my largely medically uneventful labor, induction, and unplanned c-section birth at a bay area hospital two years ago cost me a $500 copay, but the insurance paid amount was somewhere in the neighborhood of $38k.

i also exclusively pumped for a year, which cost a few thousand dollars. the pumps alone were $1200. then replacement parts, accessories, random necessities.. can't even count the time and the calorie investment involved (i was eating upwards of 1000 extra calories a day to prevent weight loss).

throw in gear and clothing and...going past $50k for the first 18 months doesn't seem so unrealistic?

I wouldn’t count what the insurance pays to have any relevance, especially with the fuzzy nature of costs in healthcare field.

Also, one pump is required to be provided by the health insurance company by law, and as now, a new pump costs a a few hundred dollars. This is the most popular one:

http://www.medelabreastfeedingus.com/products/573/pump-in-st...

A crib/car seat/rocking chair/stroller can be had for $1k total if you stick to mid level stuff, maybe a few thousand if you go super fancy. Food and clothes might be another few thousand.

I wouldn’t count one’s time cost to be of importance to the conversation either, as it’s universal. If we’re comparing how much money came out of parents’ pockets with a baby versus not having baby, I would say at most $10k for most people, I would budget for $15k though (and lost wages due to time off if you don’t have paid parental leave).

I would include the costs of what insurance pays, because it is in fact part of the cost of bringing a life into this world in the US. You are scratching to prove your point, and keep moving the mark. If you don't want to include what insurance covers, how about including insurance premiums, at least two years worth since you cant just hop on insurance once you get pregnant. Lost wages are another factor, but those can easily cost thousands for many people, i wouldnt minimize those down so low.

based on your math and assumptions i really wonder if you have had a child in the US recently.

I had no idea my daughter costs my entire post tax salary. I wonder how we pay the mortgage?

But look at all these new credit card offers available!

I'd say anywhere where capitalism reigns. Childcare & natal items are all door busters (and expensive) for big retail shops. They know that you are coming to shop, they just need to get you in their space.

If you get a bill but don't actually pay it does it still have a five-figure price tag?

Assuming your insurance company's machine learning algorithm doesn't decide to deny your payout for UNKNOWN_REASON, that is.

I'm talking about with no insurance. You know the debtors prisons were closed a century ago right? It will screw up your credit score for a couple of years and that's about it.