00:13We pretty much knew since we left Australia three years ago to become
00:18full-time travellers and digital nomads that we'd more than likely end up having
00:23a baby somewhere overseas. Therefore when we decided to live in Thailand full
00:29time we started doing research on just how much it would cost to have a baby
00:33here in Thailand. Obviously as foreigners we don't get access to things like free
00:39health care which Thai citizens often do. But that doesn't mean it's not entirely
00:44possible and also affordable to have a baby here in Thailand as a foreigner and
00:50many of you may actually be surprised just how affordable it is to have a baby
00:54here in Thailand. Especially if you want to go to a private hospital as opposed
00:59to a cheaper public hospital. I'm due to give birth pretty much any day now and
01:05we already have a quote from our hospital on the different delivery packages that
01:10are available to us. So in today's video we're going to share exactly how much it
01:15has cost us over the past nine months as well as all the other costs that are
01:20involved in the delivery and postnatal here in Thailand. But before we break
01:26down all the costs we need to emphasize that the most important thing was the
01:31health and safety of both Mandy and the baby. For that reason we didn't take
01:36picking Thailand lightly whatsoever. In fact we decided on Thailand because the
01:40hospitals here are truly incredible. They're honestly equivalent to hospitals in any
01:46Western country so if anybody watching this is on the fence about whether or not
01:52to have a baby in Thailand and if the thing that's stopping you is health and
01:57safety do not worry because the hospitals here are truly amazing and we're going to
02:02be doing a completely separate video on the quality and safety of hospitals here in
02:07Thailand. It's important to note before we break down all the costs that none of
02:12this would have really been even possible or affordable for us if we didn't have
02:18great health insurance coverage. We've been covered by a safety wing nomad
02:22insurance since we left Australia almost three years ago which has been amazing
02:26for both health and travel insurance covering us for everything from lost
02:31luggage to minor health incidences. But since we decided a while ago that we
02:37wanted to have a baby while overseas we now not only have reliable travel
02:42insurance for when we're on the road and something maybe goes wrong but we're
02:47also covered for all of our medical needs including maternity because now we
02:52have safety wings nomad health coverage. Nomad health is a global health
02:56insurance for remote workers and nomads just like us. It's a full-fledged health
03:01insurance that covers your medical needs worldwide including even in your home
03:07country. Even when we flew back to Canada for three weeks recently I was still able to
03:11get a prenatal massage which was covered by Nomad Health which was absolutely
03:16amazing. I really needed it. The way it works for maternity is there is a 10 month
03:21waiting period so if you are on the fence or you're currently thinking maybe you do
03:27want to have a baby while traveling overseas then we would advise signing up as
03:32soon as possible. And while Nomad Health does include maternity cover it's
03:36actually very handy for a lot of other things including dental, optometry,
03:43screenings and vaccines, physiotherapy and much much more. We're actually both
03:48covered by Nomad Health and I've actually used it recently to go to the dentist I
03:53made a full video about that you can check it out in the link below. I got some
03:57new glasses, I've been doing some acupuncture and also physiotherapy to just
04:02help me recover from some sports injuries and all that's been possible because we
04:06are covered by Safety Wing Nomad Health. So if you're a digital nomad or an
04:10expat like us who is thinking about having a baby overseas or if you're just
04:15someone who likes to travel full-time check out Safety Wing Nomad Health we
04:20will leave a link to it in the description below. So far in the almost nine
04:25months of Mandy being pregnant here in Thailand our total hospital and doctors
04:30bills have come to sixty three thousand eight hundred and twenty Thai baht which
04:35sounds like a lot but it's the equivalent to about nineteen hundred US
04:39dollars and twenty eight hundred Australian dollars. It's also about twenty
04:44five hundred Canadian but thanks to our insurance we've only had to pay twenty
04:48percent of that which is about twelve thousand seven hundred and sixty four
04:51Thai baht or just under US four hundred dollars. That's everything we've paid up
04:57until this date and this includes everything from our initial pregnancy
05:01blood test that we got or that Mandy got, a chromosome test including finding out
05:07the sex of the baby which is super important, all the ultrasounds, the scans, some
05:13medication, prenatal therapy such as massages and even one unexpected trip to the
05:20ER that we did have to make. We've still got a couple of visits to go at the
05:25OBGYN before the delivery but we've already received our estimation for
05:30hospital charges. The estimated cost for a normal delivery including two days in a
05:36superior room and a nursery room in a private hospital is between a hundred
05:41thousand and a hundred and twenty thousand baht which is around three thousand US
05:47dollars or about four thousand Australian dollars and this includes the
05:51accommodation costs, estimated expenses for surgery, the room, general medical
05:58equipment, medication, any special equipment the surgeon may need to use, surgeon
06:06fees, pediatric doctor fees and and possible anesthetic fees as well. For cesarean
06:12section the cost is a little bit higher it's between 120,000 and 140,000 Thai
06:19butt. We actually had a lot of people asking us if they do push cesarean
06:24sections. It is something we have heard about but to be completely honest our
06:29doctor or OBGYN has been absolutely amazing hasn't she? She's been amazing yeah. So
06:35far in all the discussions we've had with her she hasn't tried to push
06:39anything on us she's told Mandy that she's totally fine to give a normal birth
06:46and she's been open to all of Mandy's requests and suggestions so I don't think
06:51that's too much to worry about here in Thailand. There are always going to be
06:55emergency circumstances that might happen where the costs may increase for our
06:59delivery however this is a general idea of how much it should cost to have a
07:03natural birth. It's very important to note that all these charges are from the best
07:08private hospital here in Thailand or from one of the best private hospitals here
07:13in Thailand. All of these costs I'm sure would be most likely a lot cheaper if you
07:18were to go to one of the public hospitals although I've heard that the doctors and
07:23nurses are pretty good at these hospitals as well they are a lot busier and I
07:28think the conditions are nowhere near as you know updated and and nice. So when we
07:36add the additional 120,000 Thai baht that will most likely pay between now and after
07:44giving birth the total amount for us comes to 183,281 Thai baht or just over
07:51five and a half thousand US dollars which sounds like quite a lot however because we
07:56are covered by safety wing insurance we only have to pay 20% of the total costs which works
08:04out to be just over 1600 Australian dollars or 1100 US dollars and that is for the entire pregnancy
08:12as well as the delivery of the baby and anything postnatal. Obviously there's more than likely
08:18going to be some more costs involved postnatal for checkups and things like that but luckily
08:24safety wing insurance does cover us for up to 30 days following discharge and the total amount
08:30of coverage for maternity under safety wing is seven and a half thousand US dollars for a year so that's
08:38how much you are covered for as long as your costs don't go anything over that you don't have to
08:43pay
08:43any more and obviously we're going to be well under that. So how does that compare to where you live?
08:49You may be watching this from the United States or Canada or Australia. I know that in Canada you do
08:55have access to free health care which includes pregnancy and delivery however I believe it only
09:02includes two ultrasounds during your pregnancy and one night stay in a public hospital and in Australia
09:10similarly a majority of the costs are covered by Medicare and again that is for public hospitals only.
09:18If you're looking at a private hospital you're going to need a pretty expensive private health
09:24insurance and according to an article we actually found on Forbes magazine the average cost of child
09:29birth in the United States for a normal delivery is $18,000 and the average out-of-pocket cost for
09:38health
09:38insurance plan members is $2,800. For a cesarean section the average cost of childbirth is $26,000
09:47and the out-of-pocket cost for an insurance plan member is $3,200. So even when we factor in
09:56the cost of
09:57our monthly insurance coverage it still works out to be a lot cheaper than having a baby pretty much
10:03anywhere else in the world especially considering the amount of care Mandy is able to receive for the
10:11money and we get to go to our private hospital we've been able to get an ultrasound scan pretty much
10:18every time we visited the hospital yeah yeah which is roughly once a month or every four weeks and just
10:25the general care that we've been given in the private hospital has been amazing I've been so well
10:30looked after I've been so relaxed and calm if you're on the fence about having a baby here in Thailand
10:36and
10:37maybe the cost of having a baby is one of your main concerns hopefully this video helps to give you
10:43some clear insight as to how much it might cost and we will leave a link down below to the
10:49hospital
10:49that we go to and also to our insurance plan if you're interested in checking it out guys we know
10:55having a baby overseas can be a really really daunting task I know it was for us like when we
11:01decided we
11:02kind of felt like we didn't know what we're up against but as long as you're willing to do your
11:06research and that's kind of why we're putting out videos like this to try and help other people who
11:12might be navigating the same thing hopefully we can provide a lot of value and information for you guys
11:18so that maybe you don't have the same anxieties and fears that you maybe once had yeah like it should
11:24be
11:24an exciting happy time so any stress that you can eliminate in this process is a positive and don't
11:31worry if there is any issues any dramas anything that goes wrong along the way we're going to be
11:35documenting that too like we're not going to sugarcoat this whatsoever I don't know if we're going to
11:40bring the GoPro into the delivery room yet I don't know maybe but anyway we hope you found this helpful
11:48guys if you made it this far we really appreciate it and don't forget to like and subscribe if you
11:53did find this video helpful at all
