A woman has shared that she has been billed an extra $11 for crying during her mole surgery.
Midge, with a Twitter handle @mxmclain, had a revelation on Twitter and now urged a huge outcry and raised questions about the troubles and procedures of the American healthcare system.
She shared a photo of the invoice she received from the hospital following her basic mole removal procedure. The bill had a breakdown of all the charges. However, one of the particulars named “Brief Emotion” was for $11.
“Mole removal: $223 Crying: extra,” She sarcastically tweeted. “I didn’t even get a damn sticker. Is a lollipop too much to ask?”
The bill states that $223 was charged for the main procedure. But that little extra $11 has left netizens confused. Since she shared the tweet, it has been liked more than 33,000 times, garnered 8,000 retweets, and received hundreds of comments.
Despite her humorous approach to the whole thing, there is a more serious issue about it. She was actually being charged for a “brief emotional-behavioral assessment”.
“This is basically what it is – a “depression screening” which I think is definitely important but if it’s so important it should be fully covered by insurance,” Midge told LADbible.
“It was part of a routine annual physical, I didn’t know at the time that it wasn’t covered by insurance,” Midge added. “It was basically 10 or less questions. So it wasn’t actually a fee for crying but rather an emotional evaluation.”
Patients can lose their cool and have breakdowns moments before a surgical procedure. But sometimes, the emotions and anxieties of patients cannot be controlled or suppressed.
Charging someone for that burst of emotion is a whole different story that needs to be talked about and this raises a difficult question, as doctors in the USA have been accused in the past of adding extra charges, or as Midge says it “padding their bills by using these assessments”.
The concept of being charged for surgery is normal, but the discovery that you can be charged added extras on top of that has blown a lot of people’s minds.
Many were left shocked by the fee, and many criticized the “horrendous” expenses people can face while ill.
A Twitter user commented: “I can’t tell if this is an amazing satire or another example of ridiculous medical billing shenanigans.” To which Midge replied saying: “It’s real,” before adding an emoji of an American flag.
A second wrote: “This accurately describes the American healthcare system.”
A third said: “They were padding your visit to make more money. Very scummy maneuver! They’ll add this any time they ask you if you’ve been depressed recently or about your mental state in general.”
A fourth one added: “This is genuinely the moment when we should collectively down tools. This is the end. Society is broken.”
Meanwhile, others have chimed in to share their own experiences of being landed with surprise charges after receiving medical care.
One man complained: “I woke up while they were taking my wisdom teeth out. Specifically, I woke up while they were hammering on one of my teeth to split it in half. They charged me for the extra anesthesia to put me back under.”
Another wrote: “I recently had a seizure and was super out of it afterward, so I was charged for “emotional assist” and when I asked about it the lady was just like “Yes it says here you were distressed.”
The Hill reported a source from within the health care industry as having said: “This was easily the largest lobbying and public affairs battle in the last several years.”
“The big health insurers and employer groups placed a massive bet… They were ultimately outmaneuvered on the political front,” they added.
The trade group representing insurance companies, America’s Health Insurance Plans, said that patients could be protected by fair market-based prices for healthcare based upon local rates, negotiated locally.
The healthcare debate in the USA continues to rage on, with those requiring healthcare still paying for their treatment, either through insurance or from their own pockets.