A woman claimed that she received a bill for crying during her surgery, which provoked an uproar over the fascets of the American healthcare system.
Midge, the woman in question who goes by @mxmclain, received an invoice after a minor mole removal procedure and was taken aback to find out that she was charged an extra $11 and was shocked to discover an unexpected additional US$11 for what was called “Brief Emotion.”
“Mole removal: $22. Crying: extra,” Midge tweeted while throwing in jokes such as “I didn’t even get a dam sticker” and “Is a lollipop too much to ask?”
For people in Canada, the UK, Spain and others who had the opportunity to experience free medical care, the concept of being charged for surgery is puzzling. So, it doesn’t come as much of a surprise that people are blown away by the thought of being charged extra.
“This accurately describes the American healthcare system,” someone wrote.
“Jesus, I should have hid my weeping better. I’m going to owe them fists of money after my hospital stay,” someone joked.
Someone else agreed with Midge’s sentiments about being charged extra and said, “This really happens… I got charged this when they did my first blood test all because they decided to run my blood in some kind of depression test that I didn’t approve.”
Speaking to indy100, Midge said that she had received a depression screening test during a routine annual physical, and she wasn’t aware insurance didn’t cover it.
“It was basically 10 (or less) questions about mental health,” she said,
When she received the bill, she also explained that the charge wasn’t for “crying” but was coded to print as “Brief Emotion,” which is shorthand for “brief emotional assessment.”
Whenever horror stories about American Healthcare arise, people in the comments also used Midge’s experience to discuss how beneficial free healthcare can be, with one person that said, “AKA: protect the NHS at all costs.”
On the other hand, other people have expressed their experiences of getting unexpected charges for things in medical care, including one charged for sharing in-depth information with her psychiatrist about her trauma.
Check out some other responses below.