Woman saves over $15,000 on medical bills by moving from the US to the UK to give birth

The nearly inhumane cost of medical treatments in the U.S. has long been criticized by people in and outside the country. Medical bills can sometimes turn out to be way higher than taking a flight to another country and seeking treatment over there. A 25-year-old new mom decided to do just that and flew to the United Kingdom to deliver her baby. The American woman named Hayley Agra was on a trip to Wales when she found she was expecting a child with her partner, Lewis Blackshaw, reports The Mirror.

At that time, the couple was living in Japan and had no health insurance set up in America. Knowing that the average cost of childbirth can reach up to $26,000 in the U.S.—especially for a C-section—Agra and Blackshaw decided to head over to the U.K. The couple still had to pay $10,192 for care at the NHS because Agra was not granted her visa quickly enough. Still, they managed to save more than $15,000 on medical bills. "Given my position, it was the right and cheaper decision to have Arthur here. I honestly think that it was a lot less stressful giving birth here in Wales than it would've been in America. Here I have the support of my partner and of the NHS," Agra, who works as a social media manager in North Carolina, said about having her son.

Blackshaw and Agra met in 2022 in Hakuba, Japan, where they were both working as snowboarding and ski instructors. In May 2023, Agra found out that she was pregnant while visiting Blackshaw's family in Wales. "In July 2023, I accidentally ripped out my IUD (an intrauterine device) and I didn't have insurance. That meant I couldn't get access to any birth control unless it was emergency contraception. A month later, in August, I found out I was pregnant," Agra told the news outlet. Still on a standard visa, Agra could not stay in Wales for more than six months. She went back to her sister's place in Minnesota in October 2023.

"I had my blood taken and an ultrasound in America when I was two months pregnant. Those two appointments cost $991, which I am still paying off today," she revealed. That was the moment the couple realized that having a baby in America would pile up their medical bills even more. So, they decided to relocate to the U.K. She applied for a family visa to give birth to her baby there. "In contrast to my U.S. appointments, my prenatal care with the community midwives totaled about $1550. That number includes all of my prenatal care from 20 weeks of pregnancy onwards," Agra said, referring to the care she got from NHS community midwives when she was 20 weeks pregnant.

The couple's son, Arthur Blackshaw, was born on May 18, 2024, at Glan Clwyd Hospital in Bodelwyddan, Denbighshire, through an emergency C-section that cost her $2584. Agra contracted an infection for which she had to extend her stay at the hospital and had to pay $1163 per day. She stayed there five days in total. Blackshaw and Agra's final medical invoice, adding in the extra expenses, still summed up to $10,189.

"We didn't know this, but the NHS charges for emergency C-sections and most extra services for any unplanned medical issues. It was definitely cheaper here, especially because I didn't have job security in the States. I'm happy to have been able to take this route," Agra concluded. After giving birth to her son, she was granted a family visa and has been living in North Wales with Blackshaw.