What's the cost of child birth in USA?

What a hospital or birthing center charges depends on the insurance company the mother is covered by. This is kind of a racket in the US where if you have good insurance providers will charge the company more than if you have not so good insurance. Here in L.A. County where I live there are more births covered by MediCal (the program for the poor) than births covered by the employer provided insurance that most Americans have. If someone was one of the few who literally has no insurance coverage and they wanted to pay out of pocket the cost would significantly lower than what would be charged to an insurance company or even a government program like MediCal/Medicaid. Providers are always willing to negotiate if someone's paying out of pocket. In fact sometimes it's cheaper to pay that way than to pay the insurance company's co-pay for service. But currently in L.A. County an uninsured birth at a birthing center without any complications would run about 3k-4k. The same in a hospital would be about doubt that but in most cases that could be negotiated down significantly. Yes, healthcare in the US is much like trying to buy a car.

You heard wrong. Health insurances pay for childbirth and so do State medical programs.

I wish. That would go a long way towards easing overpopulation.