Additional Coverage:
- I had my first baby in Switzerland and the second after moving home to Chicago. Giving birth in the US left much to be desired. (newsbreak.com)
Chantal Panozzo experienced childbirth in two vastly different settings: Switzerland and the United States, with her first baby born in Switzerland, and her second in Chicago after relocating back to the US. Her experiences illustrated stark contrasts in maternal care and facilities between the two countries.
In Switzerland, Panozzo was accustomed to an extensive level of care where the health system provided a standard five-day hospital stay for natural births and ten days for cesarean sections, even under basic health coverage. This comprehensive care included postnatal midwife visits at home; something fully covered by her Swiss health insurance without any hidden costs, costing around $3,000 total.
Conversely, in the US, Panozzo found the healthcare system drastically different and challenging. Upon arriving at a suburban Chicago hospital fully dilated, there were initial issues with recognizing her insurance which delayed her admission. Unlike her experience in Switzerland, where she was swiftly assisted into a birthing room, in the US, she faced bureaucratic hurdles even during active labor.
Once admitted, the preferences she had for her birthing process, shaped by her previous experiences in Switzerland, were met with confusion and unavailability, such as her request for a birthing stool. The hospital stay was also significantly shorter, under 40 hours with minimal follow-up care, barring a six-week postpartum check-up. The stark lack of postnatal care and assistance, as well as the absence of benefits like paid family leave, contrasted sharply with her Swiss experience.
Financially, the cost starkly differed as well. Her non-medicated birth in the US, which offered less care, cost her insurer over $9,000 — more than three times what she paid in Switzerland. This is below the average US birth cost, which can run upwards of $18,865 for insurers, with significant out-of-pocket expenses for the family.
Reflecting on her experience five years later, Panozzo remains struck by the deficiencies in the US system. The higher costs coupled with lower standards of care and a lack of maternal health safety left her feeling the healthcare system in her home country was broken, a sentiment echoed by reports noting the US’s high rates of maternal and infant mortality compares poorly to other developed nations.
Panozzo is working on a book about these experiences, delineating the cultural shocks and the stark differences in day-to-day life and system efficiencies between the US and Switzerland, hoping to shed light on what she believes can be improved in American maternal healthcare.