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That’s my wife. And she’s pregnant.
这是我妻子，她怀孕了。
When you have a baby, there are lots of costs to consider.
怀孩子之后就有很多花销要考虑。
Carseat, and a bassinet, a baby carrier, thermometer.
儿童座椅、摇篮、婴儿车、温度计。
Wait, wait, wait. But how much is like the actual like hospital birth going to cost?
等等，那在医院生产要花多少钱？
Healthcare in the US is significantly more expensive than in other countries.
美国的医疗比其他国家贵得多。
Some experts say that this is partly because consumers don’t go around looking for prices and comparing them between hospitals,
一些专家称，部分原因是消费者不会像买车或是买别的东西那样，
like they do when they buy a car or anything else for that matter.
花很多精力查询、比较不同医院的价格，
So I decided it’d try it out and see if there was any way to discover in advance how much we would be paying for our baby’s birth.
所以，我决定试一试，看能不你能够提前打听好在医院生产需要多少费用。
What happens next is at once depressing and horrifying,
接下来发生的事一度让我感到不仅非常郁闷，而且细思极恐，
showing how broken and expensive the American health care system is.
也暴露了美国医疗系统有多糟糕、多昂贵。
There's no way I'm the only person who's ever had this question.
我绝对不是第一个碰到这个问题的人。
Childbirth in the US is the number one reason why people go to the hospital.
美国医院的生产条件是人们选择去医院生产的首要原因。
Almost 4 million women are going to give birth this year and most births are relatively uncomplicated.
今年有将近400万女性面临生产，而大部分生产过程相对而言都不是很复杂。
So you would think that with such a common procedure the price would be generally well known.
那你不禁会想，这么一个普通的流程，费用大家应该都知道吧。
I wanted to know how much child birth usually costs,
我想知道生孩子一般会花多少钱，
so I did what any good child of the internet would do
所以我就做了任何一个网民都会做的事，那就是上网搜，
and I found this really disturbing study from the Yale Medical School .
但找到的耶鲁医学院的资料却让人十分失望。
It analyzed almost 800,000 low risk deliveries in the US,
这一研究分析了美国大约80万例低风险接生手术，
looking for the variation in cost just for the facilities, meaning the hospital rooms and supplies and stuff like that.
只考察设备费用——使用病房、物资等物产生的费用——的变动，
For just the cost of the hospital room, this study found that the price varied between $1,189 and $11,986.
该研究发现，就病房的费用，不同医院价格浮动的范围在1189美元到11986美元。
So I realized that I am going to have to go ask the specific hospital where my wife is giving birth if I'm going to figure this out.
所以我觉得，要想搞清楚这个问题，我还得给我妻子即将分娩的医院打电话问。
Every hospital has a giant list they call the chargemaster,
每家医院都有一个超长的所谓的“收费标准”的清单，
which details all the services they provide and what they cost and each item and service in the hospital has a code.
里面列举了医院提供的各种服务及相应的价格，而且，每个项目或服务都有一个条码。
If a doctor spends 20 minutes with you,
一个医生在你身上花20分钟的时间
that’s a different code and a different price than if they spent 40 minutes with you.
和在你身上花40分钟的时间都有不同的条码，不同的价格。
Your insurance company then negotiates a lower price for every single item on the list.
然后你的保险公司会跟医院协商，为每个条码争取更低的价格
So when my wife goes into the hospital to give birth,
所以，我的妻子去医院生产的时候，
The nurses have a bar code scanner that they use to scan every item she touches.
护士们会用一条扫码机扫描她们拿到的每一个条码。
Everything from the IV tubes to the Ibuprofen gets scanned onto the bill.
无论是用到的试管还是医生开的布洛芬，都会扫到你的账单上。
At the end of it all, they put all the codes and prices onto one piece of paper which they call a “claim" and send it off the insurance.
最后，她们会把所有的条码和价格放到一张叫“付款账单”的纸上，然后寄给你的保险公司
The insurance looks at it and pays a certain percentage of it based on my policy.
看过之后保险公司会按照我的投保比例付相应的费用。
The hospital then sends the remaining balance to me.
接着医院把待缴纳的部分清单寄给我。
So I figured if I could get my hands on that master list of prices
那我想，如果我能自己搞清楚清单上各个项目的价格
I could add up the price of the delivery. Right?
那我就能算出我要为这次生产支付多少钱了，没问题吧？
Well it wasn’t that easy.
然而，事实并没有那么简单。
I called the hospital where Isabel is going to give birth and got a message machine.
我给Isabel即将入住的医院打电话，被转到自动回复。
So I decided to call a some other hospitals to see if anyone could give me some general pricing information about the cost of birth.
所以我决定打给其他医院，看看有没有人能告诉我生孩子一般需要花多少钱。
So my wife is pregnant.
我妻子怀孕了。
My wife is pregnant.
我妻子怀孕了。
My wife will be giving birth.
我妻子就要临盆了。
My wife's pregnant and I'm trying to get an idea of how much different services cost.
我妻子怀孕了，我想了解一下生孩子各个项目的费用。
Items that would be on a bill.
就是那些最终会出现在我账单上的项目。
Different costs associated with labor and delivery.
生产相关的费用。
Ok, one moment.
好的，请稍等。
Ok give me one moment let me talk to my team leader.
明白，请稍等，我问一下我们组长。
Certainly, let me connect you with the billing office.
没问题，我帮你接收费部吧。
I can connect you with our financial coordinator.
我可以帮你转接财务
What I'll have to do is transfer you to the pricing line.
这个你得转接负责费用的专线。
I can transfer you.
我帮你转接
So now I'm being transferred to another line.
所以，现在他们给我转接到了另一条线，
Or something. I don't know.
我也不知道转给谁了
They're transferring me somewhere.
反正就是给我转接了
