I Wish the Octuplets Weren't Born in California

Prius Recall | Millionaire Mom Murder | Sexist Super Bowl Ads

I Wish the Octuplets Weren't Born in California

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Yesterday, 46 doctors, nurses and assistants delivered a set of octuplets by Caesarean section. Although all babies were miraculously born alive, which is wonderful, I less than thrilled they were birthed here in my home state of California. We're already bankrupt enough!

Guest Blogger Samantha: Yes, it's a miracle the octuplets were born happy and healthy, and I hope they stay that way.

But I just wish I wasn't footing the bill!

The babies were born in my home state of California. In case you haven't heard, we're going bankrupt.

We've been told that instead of state income tax returns, we'll likely instead receive a "registered warrant." Translation: an IOU.

California's Controller John Chiang warns that by the end of February, the nation's most populous state may not be able to pay some of its debts, and instead be reduced to issuing those creditors IOUs.

So who foots the bill for the octuplets? We all do!

Mark Perloe, MD and E. Scott Sills, MD, of the Atlanta Reproductive Health Center,
say that no one likes to count pennies when it comes to health care, especially for premature babies, but these multiple births are accompanied by huge expenses. Doctors caring for the octuplets born in Houston in 1998 estimated the babies' care cost at least $2 million (about $250,000 per infant) before they even went home. Add the likely expenses for providing ongoing medical care after the babies left the hospital, and the cost quickly soared into the millions.

Regarding the ballooning cost of multiple births, there's no free ride, according to Dr. Perloe and Dr. Sills. All of us will pay for this medical care. As a result, insurance companies could deny coverage for aggressive fertility treatments or raise everyone else's insurance premiums.

We don't know if the parents of the octuplets will or will not take federal aid. But if they do, that means every tax payer helps pay for this multiple birth. And those of us in California can't afford one more mouth to feed!

Do you think it's financially irresponsible to have eight babies, especially in this economy? Comment below.

It's Multiple Mania!

170 comments so far | Post a comment now >>

Do you think it was financially irresponsible for your parents to give birth to you, and to keep you alive?

- jb

Posted 01/27/09 02:57 PM

I think this is borderline crimnal behavior. If you expect an insurance company or the state to pay for this expense

- WILDWONDERFUL

Posted 01/27/09 03:00 PM

jb Your comments are to way out. Its almost certain this lady took fertility drugs. Many details of this story are not given which usually means the truth is not pretty.

- WILDWONDERFUL

Posted 01/27/09 03:03 PM

if you don’t want to “foot” the bill then i suggest you move.

- mommyof1

Posted 01/27/09 03:13 PM

thank you mommy of 1! and to WILDWONDERFUL, so what if she took fertility drugs, i don’t understand how that is your business. no one takes then expecting 8 babies! people have the right to have children. and to the bloggler, if california can’t afford one more moth to feed, maybe you should move.

- Anonymous

Posted 01/27/09 03:29 PM

Yes, this is a snarky article but the bigger picture is the question any women facing infertility has to ask herself. Is it really so important for me to have a biological child or is it more important to me to raise children that for whatever reason don’t have a loving family to care for them. If your talking economy & people wanting to help others, but being limited, is it so hard to see why people don’t sympathize with these couples who spent 10s of thousand of dollars on fertility treatments taking precedence over children that get nothing.

- mona

Posted 01/27/09 04:06 PM

I wasn’t thrilled to see that Kaiser delivered this litter. I pay thru the nose for this insurance and rarely use it. I guess I’m paying for their “family”/”herd”

- Cencal Mom

Posted 01/27/09 04:09 PM

I think that more people (singles and couples) would adopt if the system would allow it. I understand that there must be rules to protect children who are removed from their birth families, to keep them from further injury. But, I know of wonderful families who would gladly adopt children from the foster care system but get bogged down in all of the red tape. And, due to abortions, there are not very many infants available to adopt (even though if you look on any adoption website there are thousands of people willing to do so). So, don’t knock fertility treatments too much. Until abortion alternatives are supported, and permanency and family become a priority for the foster care system, we will continue to see children who are denied the right to a home and people having fertility treatments in order to raise a family. IMHO

- thinker

Posted 01/27/09 04:19 PM

Oh please! Eight sick children are not going to bring down the economy of the great state of California. I suggest you look elsewhere for budgetary scapegoats.

- Kate

Posted 01/27/09 04:30 PM

how rude are people on here to call her children a “litter” or a “herd”??? would you want someone talking about your children and family that way?

- Anonymous

Posted 01/27/09 04:59 PM

I agree with the anonymous poster. These are people we’re talking about. You can talk tough about being charitable and loving people halfway across the world, so why are you so selfish you can’t even bear the thought of eight more children in your state? Are they just that evil? If you’re really interested, which most of you seem not to be, there was an article on newsy.com about the kids and the risk involved.

- Daniel M.

Posted 01/27/09 07:11 PM

Eight kids! What an f-ing nighmare. Who in thier right minds would put themselves in this situation. These people are out of touch. Eight kids born separately is bad enough, but to have them all premature…at the same time…they’re just asking for problems. I don’t think Californians will have to foot much of the bill though…there are plenty of lunatics out there who will be wasting er-donating money to them. Next week, nobody will even be talking about this…

- -On the Fence

Posted 01/27/09 08:54 PM

My sister was on welfare and as part of the services she received, she got health care at Kaiser for her and her 5 kids. Having Kaiser could mean that this family is on welfare. You can get welfare (ie, Kaiser) when you are pregnant, before the children are born.

- Adgam

Posted 01/27/09 11:39 PM

hmmm I have to woneder if you feel so strongly against providing services to this American family (I have to admit that I am assuming that they are American citizens), do you feel just as strong against providing services to illeagal immagrints… California is going broke that is a fact. But it is also a fact that one of the main reasons for that is all the entitlments, such as medicaid/medical/medicare, welfare, foodstamps, WIC, federal housing, daycare costs for low income families and education (including college) that are paid for by the state for ILLEAGAL IMMIGRANTS. If you are so concerned about the troubled economy in your state you should start speaking out against what is causing the biggest financial burden in it and that is all those entitlements.

- SD

Posted 01/28/09 01:22 AM

I pray these children all end up healthy, despite that their parents are selfish, negligent, irresponsible idiots. God does not plan for children to be born in 8 packs - This was a science experiment.

- CLJ

Posted 01/28/09 07:16 AM

Is it any of your business if they do need financial help or help from the state? I don’t think so.

- ash

Posted 01/28/09 09:57 AM

If people want to get all technical about the situation then yes, this is going to cost the state more money. But in the end these babies still need support because they are human like the rest of us. I only wonder how long it’s going to take for the parents to come in agreements with each other and name them all.

- Matt

Posted 01/28/09 12:40 PM

I wish you both all the luck! Ca put itself in debt by all the upper gov over paid people in office!

- tc

Posted 01/28/09 01:12 PM

What a rude blog post. You don’t even know if they will accept state aid or federal aid! I know that my parents, for years, qualified for WIC, food stamps and more, and they never took a penny — they took care of us just fine. For all you know, this family is independently wealthy. How presumptuous of you to question them for giving life to their babies. Even if the state of CA did foot the bill — who do you think is going to pay your social security and Medicare down the road? If we stop having kids, the system (already in dire straits) will collapse. The fact is, those kids will likely pay way more $$ into the system in the long run then the taxpayers will for their care now … if taxpayers are even footing a penny of the bill, which is not known.

- Maria -- WAHM

Posted 01/28/09 03:16 PM

Congratulations to the mom, the Kaiser staff, on this joyous, historic moment! Anybody remember the Dilley sextuplets? It was a celebrated occasion for America. The family was portrayed on TV at various milestones. Everyone was interested to read about the sextuplets. THe Dilleys wrote a book about their experience, too. Remember the MacCaughey septuplets born in Iowa in the late 90’s? Wasn’t that beautiful! Lots of magazine articles about the babies. The mom even wrote a book about it. Comments about those births were positive and uplifting. Why are there so many judgemental comments being made about this mother who had eight? Change has come to America - back to the 70’s and the Zero Population movement. How disappointing that there is not more postive, celebratory coverage of this miraclous birth of living, breathing octuplets in America.

- Beth

Posted 01/29/09 12:09 AM