WASHINGTON, D.C. – According to the CDC, American families are having fewer kids, which has contributed to a decline in our birthrate recently. A couple of factors could play into this: concerns about the future, to people focusing on their careers and of course, it can be costly to have a kid. We spoke with some lawmakers who have different ideas on how to help new parents.
According to a Lending Tree study, families spend almost a fifth of their annual income on child-related expenses. The cost of child care, extracurricular activities and basic food and care costs have continued to rise.
“What I heard over and over again is that it’s harder to afford kids,” said Sen. Dave McCormick (R- PA).
Senator McCormick is co-sponsoring the so-called “MOMS Act”. The legislation would create a website of resources, pregnancy.gov, for expecting and postpartum moms. It aims to give women increased access to adoption agencies, pregnancy resource centers, health and well-being services, including financial, nutritional, and childcare assistance.
“The MOMS Act would help women in particular, moms, have the support pre-birth, postpartum to give them early childhood education and counseling,” said Sen. McCormick. “Because what they need to make it through some of those difficult periods because we need to support moms, we need to support families.”
“The United States is one of the most expensive countries in the world to have a baby,” said Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D- NY). “In New York, a traditional birth can cost up to eight-thousand dollars while a C-section could cost over 12-thousand dollars. Insurance companies may pick up part of the tab, but even when you have insurance you can expect to pay an average of almost three-thousand dollars out of pocket on labor and delivery and other associated fees.”
Senator Gillibrand is sponsoring legislation that would make childbirth free for families with private insurance.
“It would categorize all expenses by prenatal, childbirth and postpartum services as essential health benefits and requiring health insurance companies for fully covering those costs,” said Sen. Gillibrand. “This includes ultrasound, fetal monitoring, labor and delivery and postpartum care including physical and mental health support a year after giving birth.”
So far, both bills have not made it far in the Senate.
