Spanish Public Health is an international benchmark. Citizens go to the hospital for medical procedures at no cost, and the same happens when mothers give birth. This does not mean that it is free, we pay for it through taxes, but it is a public service.
Just yesterday we published the opinion of a woman who had to be admitted due to the threat of premature birth and made a plea to our health, saying “I would have loved to receive the invoice for everything that I have not paid.”
As a result of this, we wanted to know what are the costs of hospital deliveries in Spain . The Ministry of Health publishes each year the data of some 80 Spanish hospitals and draws up an average cost of the procedures and the days of admission required in each case.
Thanks to these data, we know that the average cost of admission to our public hospitals is more than 5,000 euros and that around 1,000 euros is the cost of one day in the ICU. A stay in a room on the ground floor is around 300 and 400 euros per day per person.
Costs of childbirth care
According to the data released by the Ministry of Health (updated to August 29, 2018), in its section ‘Attention to childbirth’ we find the cost of the following medical procedures:
- Vaginal delivery (includes instrumental delivery): Average stay 2.72 days, 2,296.90 euros .
- Cesarean section : Average stay 4.46 days, 4,087.90 euros .
- Rest of deliveries (delivery with sterilization, curettage and others): Average stay 3.25 days, 2,851.80 euros .
Remember that this is a national average, since each community sets its own costs. In Andalusia, a normal vaginal delivery costs from 2,160 euros, while in the Basque Country it could cost, with complications, up to more than 13,000 euros, and in the case of cesarean section, if complications arise, up to more than 23,000 euros.
If the baby requires hospitalization
The situation of the baby at birth is also important, since if it is premature with a low weight (500-1000 grams) and requires an average hospital stay of 58 days, the cost is 52,508.50 euros .
If it is also necessary to carry out an intervention, the costs increase considerably. For example, a baby born with low weight and requires a major surgical procedure, with an average stay of 100 days, the cost amounts to 89,624 euros .
