<prompt> Human: tl;dr - it cost us 7800 out of pocket to have a baby in the U.S. _with_ health insurance.I have a HDHP through my company with a 2600 deductible per person. Were only allowed to make changes to our health plans in June.Found out wife was pregnant in July 2017. Wife maxed out 2600 deductible in 2017 on prenatal care which we already paid.Fast forward to 2018 when the baby was born, insurance covered the delivery minus wifes deductible. Insurancehospital billed our baby as soon as he was born, maxing out his 2600 deductible.Now we have bills for 5200, making our total cost to have a baby 7800.We were only in the hospital 24 hours, no NICU, no crazyunusual procedures.I had no idea it cost that much to have a baby in the U.S. with health insurance. Is it possible to negotiate with the hospital?Edit: We live in Florida and the insurance is with Aetna.  <response>: You arent going to be able to negotiate already negotiated insurance rates. The only real negotiating you can do with a hospitals is from the greatly inflated list prices to something close to those typical insurance reimbursements if you are uninsured. If it would make you feel any better you could look at the cost difference between your HDHP plan and any PPO plans your company might have been offering. Odds are over the last year you really only overpaid by something a lot closer to 2.5k due to the HDHP rather than 7.8k after you account for the lower monthly costs of a HDHP, the deductibles and co-pays you would have still had to pay on a regular PPO plan, any benefits from getting to use pre-tax HSA dollars instead of after tax dollars to pay, and potentially any employer HSA contribution. HDHPs usually have a donut hole. If you have less than 5k in medical expenses you will pay less using one and if you have more than 10-12k in medical expenses you will also pay less; however when you are right smack in the middle you can end up paying a thousand or two more out of pocket that you otherwise would have as you have discovered. 