Ridiculous medical bill alert - $874 because holding a nurse's hand is "physical therapy", 12k (!) for changed sheets

[ck4829]

Sara Janell was shocked when she received a bill of $41,288 after being hospitalized for three days following her leg operation. She was charged for bed changes, a recovery room, medicines, surgical supplies, laboratory changes, operating room work, and even physical therapy.

The most surprising thing was that she didn’t even receive any physical therapy services. The only thing it could possibly be referring to was when she held the nurse’s hand when walking after the surgery. It’s unimaginable that she would be charged $874 for just that!

Sara’s extreme bill left her feeling shocked because many of the charges mentioned didn’t seem appropriate for the services provided

The TikToker told netizens that even though she was charged $12,487 for room and bed changes, she had to deal with bedbugs every single night that she spent in the hospital. People asked her if she had insurance. She mentioned that she did and that her provider was going to cover a good amount of her bill but that she wouldn’t be paying the rest of it.

https://www.aol.com/woman-receives-shocking-hospital-bill-055024016.html

People asked her if she had insurance - I mean, it's sounding like a protection racket rather than insurance.

[NoMoreRepugs]

1. What stuck out to me was this line - "Person expressing shock about an insane hospital bill, wearing a hoodie indoors."

I'm as old, cranky and white as it gets and at the moment I am wearing a lightweight hoode INDOORS. WTF??

[Silent Type]

2. The insurance question is key. If she has insurance, they probably cut the entire bill to $7,000 or so. If she doesn't

have insurance, she can probably negotiate it down to a similar amount, assuming she can even pay anything.

Since inception of Medicare in mid-1960s -- and under most private insurance plans at the time -- providers charge way more than they expect to get. It goes back to when Medicare and insurers pretty much paid whatever a provider billed. Payers -- including Medicare -- learned quickly that providers are greedy too.

[anciano]

3. Medical debt is negotiable.....

there is a book available from Amazon entitled "Crush Medical Debt" by Virgie Bright Ellington MD that explains the step by step process of exactly what to do.

[ck4829]

4. and yet we spend so much more than other countries

[enid602]

5. Payment in Advance

Every time I’ve been hospitalized, I’ve had to pay up to my maximum yearly out of pocket BEFORE treatment starts. Everything paíd IN ADVANCE.