Bernie Sanders and the cost of having a baby

More or Less: Behind the Stats

BBC

Business, Mathematics, Science, News Commentary, News

4.6 • 3.5K Ratings

🗓️ 29 April 2019

⏱️ 10 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Bernie Sanders, a Senator in the United States and one of the front-runners in the campaign to be the Democratic presidential candidate, said on Twitter that it costs $12,000 to have a baby in his country. He compared that figure to Finland, where he said it costs $60. In this edition of More or Less, Tim Harford looks at whether Sanders has got his figures right. With Carol Sakala of US organisation Childbirth Connection and Mika Gissler of the National Institute for Health and Welfare, Finland. Producer: Darin Graham Presenters: Tim Harford and Charlotte McDonald Image: A newborn baby's hand. Credit:Getty Images/TongRo Images Inc

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	We were getting very very short to minimum fuel then it was 60 seconds.
0:07.6	Over 10 seconds.
0:08.6	There's many at 60 seconds to land.
0:10.6	It was dead silence in mission control.
0:14.0	13 minutes to the moon from the BBC World Service coming soon.
0:23.0	Hello and welcome to more or less on the BBC World Service.
0:27.6	Welcome to your Statistical Guide to Life and this week your Statistical Guide to Brand New Life.
0:34.6	I'm Tim Harford.
0:39.6	Benny Sanders, the US Senator and one of the frontrunners in the campaign to be the Presidential
0:44.9	Candidate for the Democratic Party, tweeted about the cost of childbirth in the US and in Finland.
0:51.7	In the United States it costs un-average $12,000 to have a baby.
0:57.3	In Finland it costs $60.
1:00.7	That tweet got us thinking.
1:03.3	Is Senator Sanders talking about the total cost of the medical care surrounding birth?
1:08.3	Or is he talking about the out-of-pocket cost to the mother?
1:12.3	Surely most mothers in the US don't actually have to write a check for $12,000?
1:17.3	Or maybe they do.
1:18.8	So let's break it down.
1:21.3	First, how much does it cost to have a baby, regardless of who actually picks up the tab?
1:33.3	In the US, prices vary a lot.
1:35.3	It depends on the state, the hospital and what the labour actually involves.
1:39.3	For genital births, a cheaper than cesarean sections for instance.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.