Stephanie Barnes
The American healthcare system is being heavily criticized after a TikTok video posted by Ms. Lily Flowers went viral. In the video, Flowers asked her followers, “How old was your baby when you paid off your hospital bill?” Before revealing that she just managed to pay off her bills ahead of her child’s second birthday. Other mothers based in the United States flocked to the comment section to share their answers.
It’s no secret that the healthcare system is riddled with flaws, but these numbers are out of this world. According to a report from The Daily Mail, one mother claimed she left the hospital with a bill of $2.75 million after giving birth to her son in 2002. Another said her bill was around $12,000, a balance that didn’t get paid off until her daughter turned seven. Luckily for some women, their insurance kicked in to prevent them from going into debt.
“He was a NICU baby and the hospital he was born at was not equipped to handle his medical issues,” Erin Bachman said at the beginning of her video. “So, for the roughly day and a half he was there, it cost $10,329.18.”
By the time she finished calculating, she ended up with a total of 128,768.47 for only 12 days of care for just her son before adding another $10,000 for herself. However, because of her insurance, she only paid $1,000.
“Unfortunately, that’s not the reality for way too many people,” she said. “US healthcare is so effed.”
1. And apparently, the there are still random bills…
2. Insurance can get complicated.
3. But when it works, it really works.
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5. One year later…
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8. At least the parking was free?
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Of course, women from around the world took the opportunity to share their birthing experience while gloating about the benefits of universal healthcare. TikTokers from Denmark, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the UK, and other countries all chimed in to declare that they paid next to nothing to bring their bundles of joy into the world.