Preterm birth is a serious health problem that costs the United States more than $26 billon every year, according to the Institute of Medicine.

The March of Dimes contracted with Thomson Reuters to estimate the cost of prematurity to health insurance plans of large employers. Here are some of the findings:

In 2007, the average medical costs for a preterm baby were more than 10 times as high as they were for a healthy full-term baby. The costs for a healthy baby from birth to his first birthday were $4,551. For a preterm baby, the costs were $49,033.

When a baby came early in 2007, the medical costs for both the mother and the baby were four times as high as they were when a mom had a healthy full-term infant. For the full-term infant, the costs were $15,047; for the preemie, the costs were $64,713. These expenses included outpatient visits, in-hospital care and prescriptions.

Preterm babies spend more time in the hospital than healthy babies do:
Average length of hospital stays for a term infant for the first year of life in 2005: 2.3 days
Average length of hospital stays for a preterm infant in 2005: 14.2 days

Preemies also need more outpatient visits and prescriptions.

July 2009