New mom brings baby out of NICU only to be baffled by alarming bill—it's an eye-opening cry for change

In recent years, American citizens have expressed outrage over the country's medical facilities and exorbitant bills. A 25-year-old mom from Nevada got to witness the fractured healthcare system firsthand when she was handed a bill that amounted to over $700,000. In a TikTok video, Janice Hernandez, who goes by @janiceheartss on the platform, shared the shocking reality of childbirth in America. 

"I just got the bill for my daughter's NICU stay. Do you guys want to know how much it is? Do you want to converse? Do you want to have a conversation about the price?" Hernanzed exclaimed at the beginning of the video. Her daughter was born with Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) and had to spend two months in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Little did Hernandez know that she was about to receive a shocking bill of $738,360. 

"And then I decided to take a look through the itemized bill," she continued in the video. "Because they sent every single little thing that they charged for. I swear there are things that they didn't do and I swear there are things that they're overcharging for." She remarked about a tiny tube of Aquaphor that the hospital gave her and then charged $25 for it. "I thought the nurse was just giving me to be cute and giving it for free. No, ma'am. They made sure to charge every single little thing. Damn. Like, that is crazy," Hernandez concluded.

Hernandez's experience at the hospital sparked an important conversation about the basic healthcare facilities in America that regular people are failing to afford lately. @ladylolak wondered, "Genuine question from someone not located in the U.S., how on earth do people pay these massive costs? What happens if you need medical care but have no insurance? Do you just not get treated?" @jessijays1209 made a comparison with the medical facility in Canada, "$0 in Canada for a 5-month stay for my child when he was born. They even provided food and laundry services for me. Thanks to taxes and universal healthcare."

@nat_hubbard added, "This is insane to me. So thankful to be living in New Zealand. We take a lot for granted but that is sure an eye-opener." Hernandez also had a chat with BuzzFeed, revealing that the incident delayed her daughter's discharge from the hospital. “If they had just offered this early on, we would’ve been able to bring her home way sooner,” she explained about the hospital putting on a feeding tube for her daughter.

According to the National Institute of Health, 19.8% of women with a live birth had problems paying medical bills, compared to 15.1% of women without a live birth in recent years. A 2018 report on WISE revealed the average costs associated with childbirth in America. It depended on the health insurance of the patient and the state they live in. The total average hospital bill for a regular birth was $30,000 and the total average hospital bill for a C-section was $50,000, without any insurance. Whereas people with insurance had to pay $3,400 respectively for both regular and C-section births.

You can follow Janice Hernandez (@janiceheartss) on TikTok for more videos on lifestyle.