Whether you’re just feeling poorly or have a serious medical condition, there’s a ton of stress associated with getting better. There are check-ups and tests and medications, and if you live in the United States, there’s also the bills.
So many medical bills.
Now, we’re not here to debate the pros and cons of public vs. private healthcare.
Instead, let’s talk about how the industry chooses to deal with the realities of those bills when there are sick, stressed people involved.
Personally, I think that clinics and hospitals that practice the sneak attack method are monsters.
If you’re going to do a whole bunch of exploratory tests and procedures, I do think that the patient should be warned about potential costs. Sending them a bill for tens of thousands of dollars after-the-fact just isn’t cool.
But this story is about the opposite problem: caring only about the money and not about the patient.
Putting the bills before the patient’s needs or feelings is awful and only slightly better than the sneak attack because it’s at least honest about its priorities.
Portia Bruce is an 18-year-old woman with a lot of stress in her life.
She had to move out of her parents’ home at 17 and has been supporting herself ever since. When money got tight, she was forced to drop out of college so that she could find a second job.
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Six months ago, Portia learned that she has a large tumor in her breast.
Thankfully, it’s not cancerous and isn’t growing. Looking on the bright side, she says that it’s made her boobs look bigger and she’s gotten used to it.
Eventually she wants to get it removed, but she can’t afford it, let alone afford to take time off for it.
Still, when you have a tumor in your breast, doctors want to keep tabs on it to make sure it doesn’t become cancerous, so Portia had an appointment for a check-up and ultrasound.
Because she still technically has insurance through her parents, Portia couldn’t go to the community clinic.
Money’s really tight for her parents too and you know how deductibles are. It’s too much for any of them to afford.
So Portia knew that there would be a bill for the check-up, but she didn’t expect the clinic to handle it so poorly.
The day before her appointment, before she had even had the tests, Portia received a call from a nurse. After confirming the appointment, without any preamble, the nurse informed her that the bill would be $1004.
Portia laughed and asked for more details before saying she couldn’t pay that.
And then she posted an emotional video to her Twitter account, describing the call through both laughter and tears before stating that she’s simply going to have to skip the appointment.
But Twitter wasn’t going to leave her hanging. The video went viral and eventually people convinced her to start a GoFundMe.
They’d help her raise the money if it meant she wouldn’t skip such an important appointment.
In two days, she’s more than tripled her goal, meaning that she can easily keep an eye on the tumor for a while.
Since there were too many messages to respond individually, Portia posted a thank you video.
In it, you can sense her sheer gratitude and also get an adorable reminder that she’s an 18-year-old girl as she does a silly dance.
