Americans’ complaints about medical bills are nothing new: What’s changing is how many of them are telling millions of strangers that they simply won’t pay. THE Wall Street Journal reports that TikTok, X, YouTube and Reddit are now flooded with posts urging people to ignore big hospital bills or telling them how to reduce what they owe. Mentions of medical bills and how (or whether) to pay them jumped 36,000% in the last three months compared to the previous year, according to social media tracker Sprout Social. “I got treated for a sprained ankle. All they did was examine it and say, ‘That bastard sprained it,'” a man who refused to pay a $1,000 bill after his ER experience said in a TikTok video. “You will never see this money!”
THE Newspaper focuses on influencers who turn frustration into instruction, including new moms like Lina Huffman and Lauren Meadows, who share how they negotiated birth expenses or had their debts reduced once they were collected, and attorney Erika Kullberg, who now focuses on tactics like requiring itemized bills, checking for errors, and finding hospital assistance programs. Hospitals, which are already seeing patient debt and charity care costs climb 16% this year, fear that this online “don’t pay” energy will make collections even more difficult. “As pressure from these trends increases, hospitals may need to rethink their financial and operational strategies,” notes a report from Vizient’s Kaufman Hall. For a complete picture and specific tactics, more information here.
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