Janice Hernandez had her daughter Aliana last October via emergency c-section. The newborn was born with Prade-Willi syndrome, which causes feeding challenges and low muscle tone.
Due to the rare genetic disorder, Aliana was admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) for seven long weeks before coming home around Christmas time.
Before Hernandez could finally take a sigh of relief, she was slapped with a £604,000 ($700,000) hospital bill for Aliana’s prolonged stay at the hospital.
Upon analysis of the bill, the mother revealed her findings recently on TikTok. She faced exorbitant charges for things like lotion and transferring Aliana to a different hospital room.
In a more recent TikTok video, she noted that she would have had to pay the astronomical medical bill without insurance.
“Here in America, just to breathe costs money, and so, of course, when you step foot into a hospital, they start charging you automatically,” she said. “I just wish that America would get its healthcare system together.”
Hospital Charged £3,565 Every Time Aliana Was Shifted To A Different Room
Newborns diagnosed with health issues often spend time in NICUs, which offer constant care to babies like Aliana.
NICUs offer newborns a variety of services, including tube-assisted feeding and breathing support. While the stay period for NICU babies generally lasts for several days, some remain under observation for months, depending on the requirements.
Early this year, Hernandez received an itemised bill for Aliana’s stay in a NICU. The mother noticed being charged £3,565 ($4,337) every time the hospital staff switched Aliana to a different room. The total cost for shifting Aliana six times totalled £21,372 ($26,000).
The total bill, including minor conveniences like tubes of lotion, amounted to £606,943 ($738,360).
Hernandez’s Story Triggers Massive Reaction
Hernandez’s TikTok clips garnered 2.8 million views and triggered massive user reactions from several countries, including Canada and New Zealand. Many users shared similar issues around extremely high medical costs in the US.
A TikTok user named Tanya shared her daughter’s £2.05 million ($2.5 million) NICU bill. However, her insurance saved her as she had to pay only £3,781 ($4,500).
Meanwhile, another user by the name of Maegan faced a similar ordeal with a £3.28 million ($4 million) NICU bill for her twins, who were born 13 weeks early.
“This is actually insane. America feels like such a scam in general. In Canada, this would’ve been £0. I feel so sad thinking about all the mums not having their babies and having to pay SO MUCH money,” one of the users commented.
Some users from New Zealand were shocked by the insane medical bills in the US, claiming that they were charged nothing for episodes related to NICU stays.
US healthcare costs have skyrocketed over the past decades. In 1970, health spending per capita basis was £290 ($353) annually. That figure has jumped to £11,976 ($14,570) per year in 2023.
Furthermore, US healthcare spending increased by 7.5% in 2023 to reach £4.02 trillion ($4.9 trillion), driven by hospital care services. In 2022, healthcare spending increased by 4.5%. Spending on hospital care services increased at the fastest rate since 1990, at 10.4% in 2023.
