Photo: Getty Images
Anyone who has ever seen their bill after undergoing a medical procedure, or even after just visiting a doctor, knows that many in the medical industry seem to find ways to charge for just about everything. Well one woman experienced an extreme example of that and shared details of it on Twitter.
She posted a photo of her bill and captioned it, "Mole removal: $223, Crying: extra." The bill showed that indeed the procedure cost $223, and then she was also charged $11 for something described as "Brief Emotion." In a follow-up tweet, the woman wrote, "I didn't even get a damn sticker."
Commenters were appalled by the charge, with one person stating, "Oh hell, no. If this happened to me, the billing department and/or insurance company would get a lot more emotion out if me, and it's definitely not going to be brief!" Others asked the woman how much she cried, joking that they wanted to understand the "going rate." She responded, "A single tear."
It turns out that the code is for a brief emotional/behavioral assessment, and while it can be used for that purpose, some people feel it is just an excuse to pad a bill. It wouldn't be the only example of something like that happening either. Another commenter complained, "I woke up while they were taking my wisdom teeth out. Specifically, I woke up while they were hammering on one of my teeth to split it in half. They charged me for the extra anesthesia to put me back under."
In the end, it is a good reminder to always look over your bills.