Healthcare is on many people’s mind these days, and the 2020 election is full of ideas on how to take our broken system and hopefully improve it.
Senator Bernie Sanders is and has been passionate about the topic for much of his career, and is championing a controversial Medicare for All plan that would see the end of private insurance offerings for good.
Regardless of what you think about Medicare for All, I’m sure we can all agree that healthcare costs are too damn high, and something has to be done.
Recently on Twitter, he asked his followers to share the most absurd medical bill they ever got in the mail, and you guys.
What’s the most absurd medical bill you have ever received?
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) September 15, 2019
20. Always decline the ambulance ride.
It was hot. I hadn't eaten. I fainted.
Ambulance shows up, they pull me in there with a/c blasting and stick an IV in my arm and pump me full of fluid.
In 15 minutes I was 90% good.
I'm still taken to the hospital.
3 hours of tests later I'm declared okay.
Bill: $12,000.
— Vince Nicholas (@vincenicholas) September 17, 2019
19. Nobody should be worrying about the bill.
$35k+ for an ectopic pregnancy. No ins. Have surgery or die when it ruptures. Made my X take me home a day early because I knew every extra minute there would bury me in debt. I should’ve been healing and grieving but was worried abt the bill. Beyond time for #MedicareForAll
— Nunya Biznass
(@NunyaBiznass462) September 16, 2019
18. Yeah, that’s not a choice.
…Insurance company told us we chose to have the C-Section. That it was elective. As if we just wanted to
No we had the C-section bc the Dr told us our son could die if we do natural birth. What choice is that!?!
Why I was soooo glad when Obama took insurance cos to task
— Texan (@Texan_21C) September 15, 2019
17. This one might win for most ridiculous.
I lost consciousness and my in-laws called 911. The 2 area EMTs arrived with 2 separate ambulances and fought over my unresponsive body. Eventually they decided which would claim my body and both sent me bills!
— Darcys34 (@Claudia0167) September 16, 2019
16. I’m not sure that’s really science.
$800 for a psych evaluation which consisted of them asking me "are you gonna kill yourself" and thats it.
— Jenna (@spookyslore) September 16, 2019
15. Heartbreaking AND absurd.
$10K to pay for our daughter's neonatal care one year after the fact. She died thirty minutes after birth and our insurance wouldn't pay because we failed to add her to our policy.
— didderbops (@didderbops) September 15, 2019
14. A whole new level of insult to injury.
Where to even start…
I got billed $3k a YEAR after my son was born because the insurance company deemed the emergency c-section "unnecessary".$9k ($3k which I had to pay upfront) for a miscarriage.
$500 for the ultrasound that confirmed my baby had passed in womb.
— Conz Preti (@conz) September 16, 2019
13. We need equal opportunity healing.
$35,000 for addiction treatment. Out of pocket. It's the best money I ever spent, but quality addiction treatment should not be limited by class. Addiction is treatable. Everyone deserves the opportunity.
— One step ahead of the Qs
(@artisteboy) September 15, 2019
12. I’ll bring my own Band-Aid.
$1,400 for a fucking bandaid was billed as part of the final bill total was over 40k
— Admiral Byrd was right! (@S00TY83) September 16, 2019
11. Only the rich get to live.
$120,000 per treatment chemotherapy bills
— Patsy Stone (@MsPatsyStone) September 16, 2019
10. I mean what else can you do?
In 1991, at age 21, I broke my neck in a diving accident.
$1.2 million for eight months in hospital.
After months of fighting with Blue Cross and Loyola University Medical Center in Chicago, I owed $250,000 after insurance.Filed medical bankruptcy at 23 years old.
— Troy Rudd
9. It would be funny if it wasn’t so infuriating.
$11k bill for an allergy attack that I already treated with epinephrine before getting to the hospital. Stayed overnight. Charged $1k per hour for observation. And they gave me eggs for breakfast. Which I'm allergic to.
— Benjamin Shapero (@realBenShapero) September 15, 2019
8. Answer: hardly anyone.
$480,000 for my Dad's spinal fusion surgery. That's more than we paid for our house. It was "in-network" too.
We refused to pay & told the hospital they had to work it out with Horizon, but they kept sending us the bill for months. Eventually they stopped. Who has $480,000?
— Samuel Douglas (@CANCEL_SAM) September 15, 2019
7. That’s a pretty penny for stuff you could have gotten at Walgreens.
$12,000 for less than 1 hour in the ER. Lower back strain. The doc touched my back for all of 3 seconds, wrote me a prescription for lidocaine patches and steroids and said, "have nice day"
— JE Cooper (@je_cooper) September 15, 2019
6. You need a surgeon for that?
$1,000 to have a surgeon walk in the room (late) for 1 whole entire minute and say “yeah your nose is broken” and leave
— andrea mendes (@AndreaMendes) September 15, 2019
5. That’s a pretty high price for wielding a pair of tweezers for under 5 minutes.
Attempted to charge me $600 to remove stitches. I did it myself in 4 minutes. That’s $9000/hr.
— Kelp_Paddy (@calico_rising) September 16, 2019
4. Kidney stones are the worst and if $16k would help, I would have paid it.
$16,000 for all the work done related to a kidney stone
It involved me sitting in a room, drugged up, and the doctors not knowing what was causing the pain
After they figured it out they sent me home with painkillers, said they can't do anything for it, and sent me a 16K bill https://t.co/usqUJfqeYO
— Tim Pool (@Timcast) September 15, 2019
3. I think they’re billing the wrong person.
$8000 ER visit after my abuser set my house on fire.
— Lily Bell (@RealMuse87) September 16, 2019
2. Everyone should have a problem with this.
My daughter, Shalynne's, $350k medical bill to die a needless death. Treating her and saving her life would have only cost $1,500. All because she couldn't provide proof of insurance.
— Amy Vilela (@amy4thepeople) September 15, 2019
1. What on earth does most of that even mean?
The bill for the loss of our pregnancy at 17 1/2 weeks.
Ins. paid all but 2000, the ambulance was an addl $1600.
So, on top of the emotional toll it cost me $3600.
I still owe them most of that money. Every bill and call is a reminder of losing my baby girl#MedicareForAll pic.twitter.com/HkVjyG5Ur0
— ~ Valerie ~
(@MysV4Bernie) September 15, 2019
I’m not here to discuss politics, but I think we can all agree that most of these are pretty darn silly.
If you were running for president, how would you solve the problem of rising healthcare costs, access to care, care for veterans, and all the rest?
There’s no easy answer, of course, but give it a go!
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