Photo: Fizkes/Shutterstock/Twitter
Apparently crying isn't free.
By Sanika Nalgirkar — Written on May 25, 2022
The problems with health care services in the United States aren’t unknown to anyone.
There are many people who complain about being overcharged by the hospital or are unable to find the right treatment.
But some of these costs seem utterly inexplicable, as many who have sought medical care in the US already know.
A woman took to Twitter to share her sister's medical bill, noting one particularly odd charge.
She was charged $40 for crying during a hospital visit.
Camille Johnson, a content creator in New York, went to Twitter to share her sister’s medical bill for her hospital visit.
She wrote in her tweet, “My little sister has been really struggling with a health condition lately and finally got to see a doctor. They charged her $40 for crying.”
Johnson further expressed her frustrations with the medical bill in another tweet.
“They charged her more for crying than they did for a vision assessment test. They charged her more for crying than for a hemoglobin test," she wrote.
"They charged her more for crying than for a health risk assessment. They charged her more for crying than for a [capillary] blood draw.”
Her sister cried because she was frustrated at being unable to find the right care for her rare condition.
Johnson shared another tweet where she explained that her sister has a rare health condition and she had been struggling to find the right care for her condition.
As a result, she became emotional about her frustrations and cried during her hospital visit.
She wrote, "She got emotional because she feels frustrated and helpless. One tear in and they charged her $40 without addressing why she is crying, trying to help, doing any evaluation, any prescription, nothing."
The medical bill shows her sister was charged $40 for a brief emotional/behavioral assessment.
It is a mental health test done to determine if the person has any mental health conditions such as depression, ADHD or anxiety.
However, Johnson claimed that her sister didn’t undergo any kind of test.
“They did not evaluate her for depression or other mental illnesses, nor did they discuss her mental health with her,” Johnson said.
“She never talked to a specialist, was not referred to anyone, not prescribed anything, and they did nothing to assist with her mental health.”
Thankfully, Johnson's sister was able to pay her medical bills with the help of her father, however, Johnson's tweets became viral on social media.
Internet users shared their experiences with the healthcare system.
Johnson’s experience prompted other people to speak up about their similar experiences with hospital visits or overcharged bills.
One person mentioned that they worked at a hospital where they would charge people for just asking about medication.
They wrote, “I quit that place because I felt uncomfortable billing for things like 'education' when it was their job to literally tell people what’s wrong.”
Another user wrote, “When I got surgery this past June to remove a tumor, I asked them what ‘Women's services’ was for. It was for the pregnancy test they administered. $1,902 to pee and for them to dip a stick into it.”
Sanika Nalgirkar is a writer who covers entertainment & news, lifestyle, and pop culture topics.