Going to the hospital is often a frightening experience. You or someone you love may be extremely ill, you might be in immense pain, or if you live in the United States, you’re probably fearful of the impending medical bills you’ll receive. Hospitals in the US are notorious for charging patients absurd prices for little things, like $15 for one Tylenol or $53 for a pair of gloves, but as one TikToker recently found out, there might be a way around this pricing.
In April, Tre’jon Wilson posted a TikTok stating that his $4,000 hospital bill was conveniently reduced to $950 after he asked for an itemized receipt. After this video went viral, comedian Adam Conover responded with another TikTok explaining just how arbitrary hospital bills can be. Below, you can hear Adam’s break down of how medical bills get these ridiculous prices, read some of the responses these videos have received, and let us know in the comments how you feel about this information.
Then if you’re looking for another Bored Panda piece featuring medical bills high enough to induce heart attacks, be sure to check out this story next.
2 months ago, TikToker Tre’jon Wilson shared how his $4,000 hospital bills were drastically reduced after asking for an itemized receipt
Image credits: oh_thats_just_trey
Hospitals in the United States are notorious for charging ridiculously high prices, especially for patients without insurance
Image credits: Pixabay
After seeing Tre’jon’s video, comedian Adam Conover responded explaining how hospitals come up with these inflated prices
Adam even provided advice for how patients can avoid paying exorbitant medical bills
You can watch Adam’s response video right here
@adamconover Stitch with @Tre’jon Wilson ♬ original sound – Adam Conover
While it’s a relief that Tre’jon did not end up being responsible for a $4,000 bill, it’s upsetting to know that some patients who have no one advocating for them do have to pay these prices. And this was not an isolated incident. One man in Utah was billed $39 for “skin-to-skin” contact in 2016 because the doctors held his newborn son after delivering him by a cesarean section. Emergency room fees can also be shockingly expensive. Adria Gross, founder of Medwise Insurance Advocacy, told Healthline, “Very often I see emergency room fees for $15,000 to $50,000. This happens well too often with less than an hour of service.”
The exact same services and treatments can also be billed drastically differently, as Adam pointed out in his TikTok. Not everyone is paying the same price. Adria told Healthline she was once billed $8,000 for a CT scan that should have cost between $200-$400. “On average there are 75 to 80 percent of bills with errors,” Adria says. “You always need to check whether there are duplicate claims. And make sure the medical provider has seen you if you are being billed for the services.”
These exorbitant bills are not only frustrating for patients, they can also have devastating effects on their lives. Medical debt has become a serious issue in the US, with a recent survey finding that 23 million Americans owe substantial amounts. About 16 million of those people owe over $1,000 and 3 million of them are responsible for over $10,000 in medical bills. While those without insurance are more likely to have significant medical debt, there is still no reason this should be such a common issue. It’s great to know that non-profits exist to assist patients, but it would be even better if Americans could simply seek treatment without risking going into debt. Have you ever received an extremely large medical bill? Whether you’ve been in Tre’jon’s shoes before or not, we’d love to hear your thoughts on this situation down below.
Viewers responded echoing how absurd hospital charges can be and shared some of their own experiences
The US is a broken, dystopian nightmare. It's time for Americans to wake up and realize that while they're being fed fairytales about freedom and being the best country in the world, they lack most of the social safety nets that almost every developed country has in place.
I agree. America Isn’t the best country. It’s Canada and nobody can tell me otherwise lol
Load More Replies...I live in South Africa. Medical Aids/Insurance is crazy here too. A good friend of mine was rushed to a private hospital because he was having an epileptic fit. He was immediately put into ICU, was stabilized and then suffered another seizure, where he actually bit of a part of his tongue on the side. He was in hospital for 2 weeks. 5 days in ICU, then High Care, then normal ward. The hospital sent all the accounts to the Medical insurers. The Medical Insurance refused to pay the bill for the hospital because my friend did not notify them before hand that he was going to have an epileptic fit on this particular day. After months of back and forth the hospital was paid, because the Medical Insurance Company did not want to look like uncaring and greedy people. It was a crazy time for my friend.
Cue malicious compliance. Every person with epilepsy (or any other unpredictable condition) should email the insurance company every single day informing them they are providing notice of a possible seizure/medical event today in accordance with the insurance policy.
Load More Replies...It's so wrong. The bitter thing about this is, it barely affects wealthy people but has big impact on those who are not that well off. And with no proper healthcare they are still expected to be good tax payers?!? This makes my blood boil every time and I don't even have to deal with this kind of shenanigans 🤮
I have unpaid bills from when I got hurt at work many, many years ago. Workman's Compensation said my insurance company had to pay and the insurance company said workman's comp had to pay. They went back and forth and nobody paid.
They need to be required to list the price they pay for the material, and only bill that. Then separate bill you for the work and accommodation.
We had a hospital visit back in the mid 90s. Surgery was involved. We have insurance. I started getting bills from each individual department involved at the hospital. It was crazy! I called up the hospital, told them I had no problem paying my bills but I went to one place and wanted one bill. Send me that and I'd pay it. Never heard back from them again, never got a bill and it never hit my credit rating. Kinda freaked me out a little.
Still remember being a teenager and going to the hospital. I was having a reaction to codeine, it felt like I had a ton of chest pressure. Spent so long in the waiting room by the time they took me back most of my symptoms had subsided but they had to DO something, right? They gave me pepto bismol for some reason, and the bill was thousands. lol
Adam hosts a show called Adam Ruins Everything - have a look on Youtube, he did a segment about how medical bills are calculated in the US.
Still trying to figure out how a doctor thinks he is worth over 500$/hr for his services which included - saying hello, - listening to my heart for 40 sec, -tapping my left knee 3 times, and writing his signature on an anti-inflamitory refill. He was charging my insurance 565$ per visit..every month plus my 60$ co-pay.
Specialist look at me crazy when I tell them I don't have a pcp. I'm like he's just gonna ask my symptoms and tell me something is wrong. Like... I already know all that stuff! I can refer myself!
Load More Replies...They have to charge extra because insurance companies don't allow them to charge for the nursing hours. And nursing is why you're in the the hospital, you're not there for a once a day visit for the doctor, your there for continuous monitoring because you're not stable enough to be at home.
Horrible healthcare in America won't be solved with Universal Healthcare or any government programs.
I'm not from the US, so I guess I'll never understand how negotiations in medical bills is a thing. It's a medical treatment, not a fecking FB marketplace transaction.
Going through some serious health issues in Canada and need a lot of tests, have had CT, MRI and Colonoscopy on top of doctor visit and ER. Total cost $0 I live in Canada. Due to the seriousness of my issues all were done within 4 weeks. I cannot imagine how any one can handle these bills.
Everyone involved in orchestrating that scam and knowingly ripping people off like that should be in jail
I'm having surgery on Monday and right now, the estimate is $19,000. Mind you, this is an outpatient procedure so I won't even be there an entire day. Thank God I have insurance and I'll meet my deductible but still. Absolutely stupid. No wonder the life expectancy in this country is dropping.
TLDR: once NY determined that I was disabled and couldn’t work, they decided I needed to pay more for cancer treatment. When I first found out I had stage three breast cancer (at 32) I was waiting for my disability hearing (I have a genetic disease). I was immediately put on emergency medicaid, which covered everything in full. Half way through treatment, I had my hearing and won my disability. The government of NY then promptly kicked me off the medicaid and forced me to buy into a medicare plan that only covers 30% of most bills. It resulted in over $19,000 in medical debt for treatments that I literally would’ve died without. So basically, in my state, healthy people who are poor get their bills paid for, but once you’re disabled and poor you apparently don’t deserve as much help.
We once got billed $100 because a doctor stuck his head in the door and said 'hello, be with you soon'. The dude never assessed or did a thing to contribute to my stitches.
The problem is that a large chunk of the population is too ignoranant, and too brainwashed by conservative news sources, to understand they are voting against their own interests. It's not like this is a new phenomena, social scientists have studied this for decades.
I'm currently going through chemo. Each round costs $48,000. I need six of them...(plus scans, surgery, radiation, etc). I don't know what I would do without insurance.
Am I missing something here? Why would someone not have insurance unless they are selfish sponges on society
What a privileged life you must live. How exactly does not having insurance equate to being a selfish sponge? When a person works 2 jobs and has to pick between paying rent or paying for health insurance…maybe you’re right — how dare they get sick and go ask for help and be forced to pay thousands of dollars in unnecessary or redundant charges.
Load More Replies...My favorite charges are not only the hospital bills, but also separate bills for the doctor you saw in the hospital, and also the radiologist who read your X=rays/cat-scan results, etc. A trip to the ER is doubly expensive for those extra charges, and insurance “helps” yet charges are still 200$ or 300$,. Oh and if I am having chest pains, am scared and go to the ER, but find it’s just indigestion and that’s how it is coded insurance pays nothing. Wasn’t “life threatening”.
Canadian here. I was a very sick infant(meningitis) and had a long and complicated hospital stay. While my mom likes to joke that I've "used up my quota" of medical care, the fact is my parents never saw a medical bill for any of my care - not the hospital stay, nor the neurologist visits nor any other expensive specialized care I received. We apparently pay higher taxes than Americans, but if you factor in the out of pocket cost of insurance that Americans pay, life in Canada actually costs less. It blows my mind that Americans are being held hostage by such an expensive system when almost everywhere else on earth does things cheaper.
I see what gets billed to insurance all the time. Hospitals charge $100/ea for things like syringes, gauze, alcohol, peroxide, gloves etc. The crazy thing is, that "negotiation" with insurance usually goes something like, "if you don't pay us, you're making the patient responsible for our charges."
Do we have some sort of proof that's what the hospital is actually doing or are we just accepting some minor celebrity's words as fact? Hospital bills are ridiculous, that much is true, but I seriously doubt the prices are just arbitrarily set rather than a calculation based on a lot of data.
I would also like to point out that this very true with pharmaceuticals. If you have ins, and are on some super expensive meds like Insulin look online for savings cards or coupons for those meds. Many of them will have a $25/mo Option for the brand you take. They realize that they are gouging the insurance company, but don't necessarily want to keep you from getting the meds. One of my insulins was $107/mo and is now $25/mo. Unfortunately this doesn't help uninsured or gov't insured people.
The best is when you show up at the emergency room after being hit by a car while on a bicycle. They take X-rays and tell you that your probably going right into surgery. I had a collar bone that was broken in two places. Once they found out I had no Insurance because the company I worked for offered it but it cost 2/3rds of my monthly income. So once they realize they would have to wait to get paid until the insurance company settled they sent me home with a prescription for pain killers and a referral to the same doctor who was on call. I spent a month fighting to get the auto insurance company to admit that they may have to pay so I could have surgery to repair my collar bone. The plate they used was 4 screws that cost $400 and 4 that cost $600 a piece, while the plate cost $2000 total cost was over $40,000. Then the screws failed and poked up through my skin they said I had to settle my previous bill inorder for them to fix it.
There is a law now that says they have to tell you what the bill will cost so you can shop around for a better price.
Mine tried charging me for Tylenol that I had in my purse. Uhm..no! After that, I nitpicked the bill and got it reduced by about 25%.
Inconvenient for a healthy person for those of us who are disabled this our lives
Just out of curiosity, does this count for vet bills as well when you live in the US?
Vets can be very expensive. They have low cost clinics, and weekend clinic events at many places though. My dog had cancer and the treatment was luckily very quick and clean but it cost roughly 5K. Most vets expect payment in advance or a large percentage as well. My dogs yearly visits are easily $300, sometimes more.
Load More Replies...Completely unrelated to medical bills, go polish your tinfoil hat.
Load More Replies...The US is a broken, dystopian nightmare. It's time for Americans to wake up and realize that while they're being fed fairytales about freedom and being the best country in the world, they lack most of the social safety nets that almost every developed country has in place.
I agree. America Isn’t the best country. It’s Canada and nobody can tell me otherwise lol
Load More Replies...I live in South Africa. Medical Aids/Insurance is crazy here too. A good friend of mine was rushed to a private hospital because he was having an epileptic fit. He was immediately put into ICU, was stabilized and then suffered another seizure, where he actually bit of a part of his tongue on the side. He was in hospital for 2 weeks. 5 days in ICU, then High Care, then normal ward. The hospital sent all the accounts to the Medical insurers. The Medical Insurance refused to pay the bill for the hospital because my friend did not notify them before hand that he was going to have an epileptic fit on this particular day. After months of back and forth the hospital was paid, because the Medical Insurance Company did not want to look like uncaring and greedy people. It was a crazy time for my friend.
Cue malicious compliance. Every person with epilepsy (or any other unpredictable condition) should email the insurance company every single day informing them they are providing notice of a possible seizure/medical event today in accordance with the insurance policy.
Load More Replies...It's so wrong. The bitter thing about this is, it barely affects wealthy people but has big impact on those who are not that well off. And with no proper healthcare they are still expected to be good tax payers?!? This makes my blood boil every time and I don't even have to deal with this kind of shenanigans 🤮
I have unpaid bills from when I got hurt at work many, many years ago. Workman's Compensation said my insurance company had to pay and the insurance company said workman's comp had to pay. They went back and forth and nobody paid.
They need to be required to list the price they pay for the material, and only bill that. Then separate bill you for the work and accommodation.
We had a hospital visit back in the mid 90s. Surgery was involved. We have insurance. I started getting bills from each individual department involved at the hospital. It was crazy! I called up the hospital, told them I had no problem paying my bills but I went to one place and wanted one bill. Send me that and I'd pay it. Never heard back from them again, never got a bill and it never hit my credit rating. Kinda freaked me out a little.
Still remember being a teenager and going to the hospital. I was having a reaction to codeine, it felt like I had a ton of chest pressure. Spent so long in the waiting room by the time they took me back most of my symptoms had subsided but they had to DO something, right? They gave me pepto bismol for some reason, and the bill was thousands. lol
Adam hosts a show called Adam Ruins Everything - have a look on Youtube, he did a segment about how medical bills are calculated in the US.
Still trying to figure out how a doctor thinks he is worth over 500$/hr for his services which included - saying hello, - listening to my heart for 40 sec, -tapping my left knee 3 times, and writing his signature on an anti-inflamitory refill. He was charging my insurance 565$ per visit..every month plus my 60$ co-pay.
Specialist look at me crazy when I tell them I don't have a pcp. I'm like he's just gonna ask my symptoms and tell me something is wrong. Like... I already know all that stuff! I can refer myself!
Load More Replies...They have to charge extra because insurance companies don't allow them to charge for the nursing hours. And nursing is why you're in the the hospital, you're not there for a once a day visit for the doctor, your there for continuous monitoring because you're not stable enough to be at home.
Horrible healthcare in America won't be solved with Universal Healthcare or any government programs.
I'm not from the US, so I guess I'll never understand how negotiations in medical bills is a thing. It's a medical treatment, not a fecking FB marketplace transaction.
Going through some serious health issues in Canada and need a lot of tests, have had CT, MRI and Colonoscopy on top of doctor visit and ER. Total cost $0 I live in Canada. Due to the seriousness of my issues all were done within 4 weeks. I cannot imagine how any one can handle these bills.
Everyone involved in orchestrating that scam and knowingly ripping people off like that should be in jail
I'm having surgery on Monday and right now, the estimate is $19,000. Mind you, this is an outpatient procedure so I won't even be there an entire day. Thank God I have insurance and I'll meet my deductible but still. Absolutely stupid. No wonder the life expectancy in this country is dropping.
TLDR: once NY determined that I was disabled and couldn’t work, they decided I needed to pay more for cancer treatment. When I first found out I had stage three breast cancer (at 32) I was waiting for my disability hearing (I have a genetic disease). I was immediately put on emergency medicaid, which covered everything in full. Half way through treatment, I had my hearing and won my disability. The government of NY then promptly kicked me off the medicaid and forced me to buy into a medicare plan that only covers 30% of most bills. It resulted in over $19,000 in medical debt for treatments that I literally would’ve died without. So basically, in my state, healthy people who are poor get their bills paid for, but once you’re disabled and poor you apparently don’t deserve as much help.
We once got billed $100 because a doctor stuck his head in the door and said 'hello, be with you soon'. The dude never assessed or did a thing to contribute to my stitches.
The problem is that a large chunk of the population is too ignoranant, and too brainwashed by conservative news sources, to understand they are voting against their own interests. It's not like this is a new phenomena, social scientists have studied this for decades.
I'm currently going through chemo. Each round costs $48,000. I need six of them...(plus scans, surgery, radiation, etc). I don't know what I would do without insurance.
Am I missing something here? Why would someone not have insurance unless they are selfish sponges on society
What a privileged life you must live. How exactly does not having insurance equate to being a selfish sponge? When a person works 2 jobs and has to pick between paying rent or paying for health insurance…maybe you’re right — how dare they get sick and go ask for help and be forced to pay thousands of dollars in unnecessary or redundant charges.
Load More Replies...My favorite charges are not only the hospital bills, but also separate bills for the doctor you saw in the hospital, and also the radiologist who read your X=rays/cat-scan results, etc. A trip to the ER is doubly expensive for those extra charges, and insurance “helps” yet charges are still 200$ or 300$,. Oh and if I am having chest pains, am scared and go to the ER, but find it’s just indigestion and that’s how it is coded insurance pays nothing. Wasn’t “life threatening”.
Canadian here. I was a very sick infant(meningitis) and had a long and complicated hospital stay. While my mom likes to joke that I've "used up my quota" of medical care, the fact is my parents never saw a medical bill for any of my care - not the hospital stay, nor the neurologist visits nor any other expensive specialized care I received. We apparently pay higher taxes than Americans, but if you factor in the out of pocket cost of insurance that Americans pay, life in Canada actually costs less. It blows my mind that Americans are being held hostage by such an expensive system when almost everywhere else on earth does things cheaper.
I see what gets billed to insurance all the time. Hospitals charge $100/ea for things like syringes, gauze, alcohol, peroxide, gloves etc. The crazy thing is, that "negotiation" with insurance usually goes something like, "if you don't pay us, you're making the patient responsible for our charges."
Do we have some sort of proof that's what the hospital is actually doing or are we just accepting some minor celebrity's words as fact? Hospital bills are ridiculous, that much is true, but I seriously doubt the prices are just arbitrarily set rather than a calculation based on a lot of data.
I would also like to point out that this very true with pharmaceuticals. If you have ins, and are on some super expensive meds like Insulin look online for savings cards or coupons for those meds. Many of them will have a $25/mo Option for the brand you take. They realize that they are gouging the insurance company, but don't necessarily want to keep you from getting the meds. One of my insulins was $107/mo and is now $25/mo. Unfortunately this doesn't help uninsured or gov't insured people.
The best is when you show up at the emergency room after being hit by a car while on a bicycle. They take X-rays and tell you that your probably going right into surgery. I had a collar bone that was broken in two places. Once they found out I had no Insurance because the company I worked for offered it but it cost 2/3rds of my monthly income. So once they realize they would have to wait to get paid until the insurance company settled they sent me home with a prescription for pain killers and a referral to the same doctor who was on call. I spent a month fighting to get the auto insurance company to admit that they may have to pay so I could have surgery to repair my collar bone. The plate they used was 4 screws that cost $400 and 4 that cost $600 a piece, while the plate cost $2000 total cost was over $40,000. Then the screws failed and poked up through my skin they said I had to settle my previous bill inorder for them to fix it.
There is a law now that says they have to tell you what the bill will cost so you can shop around for a better price.
Mine tried charging me for Tylenol that I had in my purse. Uhm..no! After that, I nitpicked the bill and got it reduced by about 25%.
Inconvenient for a healthy person for those of us who are disabled this our lives
Just out of curiosity, does this count for vet bills as well when you live in the US?
Vets can be very expensive. They have low cost clinics, and weekend clinic events at many places though. My dog had cancer and the treatment was luckily very quick and clean but it cost roughly 5K. Most vets expect payment in advance or a large percentage as well. My dogs yearly visits are easily $300, sometimes more.
Load More Replies...Completely unrelated to medical bills, go polish your tinfoil hat.
Load More Replies...
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