Costs of giving birth in Singapore

[mountain]

Just wondering how much would it cost to give birth in Singapore..
hospital costs etc...

Thank you so much

[natalyakir]

We paid 4500 SG for natural birth in KK Hospital and stayed for 3 days in a ward. Our friends paid sth around 6000 but they had cesarean.

[smayrhofer]

Are you local or foreign? It depends on your choice of hospital and doctor.

In our case (Thompson Medical), we are expecting to pay about $6-8k for delivery. Gets more expensive if you have complications, surgeries.. The prenatal care is expected to add up to about $4k.

[natalyakir]

sometimes it depends on the hospital. We chose a hospital that specialises on women/children's healthcare and it is cheaper than private hospitals. You can can be a vip person there too, avoiding queues and lushing in your vip ward.

[mountain]

I'm a foreigner....would the cost be different?

Also is it hard to meet their requirements in terms of paperwork etc


Thanks again

[viajera]

we paid a bit less than $4K at the NUH. normal delivery with epidural, 2 nights stay in a single room.

[aussiemeg]

I had my twins at NUH and stayed in the vip room by section and stayed for 7 nights with one of the babies needing care. In other words we maxed out costs. All up S$9000 and the most amazing experience ever. Also the fact that kk and NUH are the only hospitals with both maternity and neonatal ICU should be a huge consideration as you never know.

[mrdodge]

Lets just say, that if there are no complications it can be ok.

If you have complications and are a foreigner, then the cost can elicit an 'Oh my". (actually you can use much stronger language, i certainly did).

My advice is to have solid medical insurance. if your employer does not have it (and some MNC's don't supply maternity insurance) , get it yourself , which is what we did.

It might be that your preganacy and birth will proceed fine (and I certainly hope so) - but for both my children we had multiple stays in Hospital (Gleneagles, who are very good), c-sections in both cases and for one (a pre term birth) a longish stay in NICU. The first preganacy cost about $60k, our most recent one (he was born on the 29th november and just came home today, yay!) hmm - 8 times in hospital, 14 days in NICU, doctors bills, $100k easy.

It obviously depends on your circumstances and your risk appetite and how your preganacy is going - and ours is certainly an extreme case of course - but even minor issues can be expensive. The insurance is well worth it in my view.

Cheers

[smayrhofer]

don't you have to get the medical insurance before you're pregnant if you want your pregnancy covered? In my case, I work for an MNC with insurance that has no maternity coverage. But I got pregnant by accident (yes - it can still happen!) so I didn't look into getting myself independant maternity coverage in advance. So now I'm in the position that I am not covered for any maternity/delivery expenses.

I'm just hoping that all goes smoothly. Any complications and the cost will come out of our own pocket. ouch.

[docta123]

Hi There,

I was pregnant when I arrived in Singapore so my our medical insurance does not cover my maternity care so we have had to fork out every penny on our own. I chose NUH as that and KK both have the best reputations for neonatal after care and both have NICU just incase as you never know. I am due in January and have been quoted just under 4k for a natural birth and two nights in a private room where there is a sofa bed for my hubby to stay the two nights along with me and our new baby girl. Obviously if there are any complications then the price goes up but thats the same everywhere. The rooms are lovely and so far the staff at all our appt's and pre natal classes there have been mor than brilliant. I am looking forward to giving birth there.

Good Luck with your decision and your pregnancy.

K (26 from UK)

[snowqueen]

I am from the UK and was 12 weeks pregnant when I got here so we too were not covered by maternity insurance.

I did some research on the hospitals before I got here and decided to go to Thomson Medical Centre as this seemed to be one of the more popular ones with expats at not too expensive.

Depending on the room you go for and your consultant fees the costs will vary. I'm going for a single bedded room, hopefully normal delivery so all in can expect to pay about $4,500 - $5000. It will be around $6000 if I have a C-Sec.

If your child requires any care post-birth then these costs will be on top of this.

We are saving some money each month but we have got a credit card as well just in case.

[dtk81]

If you trust yourself its absolutely free if you take out the whole hospital ordeal.
People think hospitals are the safest place to give birth but they are not. Not only are they infested with germs but people are more likely to have a Cesarean Section which is considered major surgery.

If you are interested in natural birth then I can point you in the right direction. I encourage you to read some books and do some research to empower yourself about the whole thing.

[snowqueen]

dtk - are you talking about gving birth at home with no medical care around you?

[quidsin]

Up until the about 40-50 years ago and going back beyond this to pre-historic times, this is how they used to do it you know, in your own home or even in the middle of field with no medical care !

this is stil lthe arrangement in many undeveloped nations today so don't sound so surprised by it all...

[durain]

in pre-historic times when you got a headache, the doctor will crack open your skull and check out the wood works. luckily we are not in that era now.