What the Stork Never Told You: An Empirical Analysis of the Pregnancy Cost For Women in Illinois from 1999-2004

Abstract

The Illinois Department of Public Health has made available Public Hospital Discharge Datasets from the state of Illinois from 1987-2004. Utilizing this data from over 200 hospitals per year and census data from the state of Illinois, we have conducted an empirical analysis on the cost of the diagnosis of pregnancy in these hospitals focusing on years 1999-2004. The total cost (COST) of a medical visit and length of stay (LOS) are variable factors when considering the common diagnosis of pregnancy. Keeping this in mind, we have analyzed how these two variables change by region and by primary payer, or insurance type, in Illinois during this time. We have followed this analysis by taking note of what is at stake for pregnancy costs and maternal care in light of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), set to take effect in 2014.