Here is one story you've got to read. A baby born with a heterotaxy syndrom (causes unknown), needed surgery at age 4. then the bill came
And then the reactions when the mum posted the bill on twitter.. Absolutely disgusting.
But especially, realize this:
Quote:It was late on a Friday evening when I collected the day’s letters from the mailbox. One of those envelopes held a medical bill for my 3-year-old son; I’d moved it to the bottom of the pile because I wanted to work up to opening it, but when the ads for roofing companies and oil changes were taken care of, there was nothing else left. I took a deep breath and pulled the sheets of paper from the envelope, scanning them quickly, past line after line of impossibly large numbers, until I found the simple statement, printed in bold letters: PLEASE PAY THIS AMOUNT: $500.I shared my toddler's hospital bill on Twitter. First came supporters — then death threats. - Vox
I burst out laughing with the sheer relief of it all. Thank goodness for insurance. I pulled up my calculator and started adding numbers. My children slept upstairs while the tally mounted, and when I got to the end I smiled wryly. $231,115, give or take a dollar or two. The price of a four-chambered heart. Not all hearts are this expensive, but my son, Ethan, was born with heterotaxy syndrome, a rare condition that can cause any of the internal organs to be malformed, misplaced, multiplied, or missing altogether. Ethan’s insides are a math all their own: two left lungs, five spleens, and nine congenital heart defects. It was his heart that had brought him to the operating room to have his chest opened four times in his short life, and the bill I was holding was for the latest of these surgeries.
And then the reactions when the mum posted the bill on twitter.. Absolutely disgusting.
Quote:At first I tried to keep up with the flood and even attempted to reason with some of the haters, but I realized quickly that it was useless, and not just because of the sheer number of comments. It was because no one was listening. No one seemed willing to stop shouting long enough to realize that there was a real person on the other side of the screen, a mother who’s seen her baby go through hell and come out the other side four times now and who just wants him to have a shot at going to kindergarten too.I shared my toddler's hospital bill on Twitter. First came supporters — then death threats. - Vox
But especially, realize this:
Quote:I hope our story reminds people that anyone could be just one diagnosis away from medical bankruptcyI shared my toddler's hospital bill on Twitter. First came supporters — then death threats. - Vox