Luckily we have insurance through my husband's job...I am not sure what we would do without it! I'm not sure how much his employer pays, but we have BCBS and we pay $240/month for the family.

Since our plan paid for nearly all of my prenatal visits, I never saw a bill except for a few odd times when I had to pay extra. One of those times was an ultrasound I had. It was a routine screening, and the scheduled visit was only about 25 minutes. I was looked at by an ultrasound technician- not a doctor- (though the tech did show the doctor the images) and the charges before insurance negotiated were $1,000! The insurance negotiated it down to 300 some dollars (and luckily I only had to pay about $50)...but without insurance, I would have been stuck with that whole bill- $1,000. I'm not sure why an insurance company is entitled to pay so much less than an individual.

Clearly there is something really really wrong with our healthcare system! I like president Obama, but drug and health insurance companies are so powerful I am skeptical that anything much can be done.