A woman's minute-long TikTok video has gone viral after she used the clip to share her simple trick for shaving dollars off expensive hospital bills.
TikTok user @shaunnaburns3 uploaded a video on December 3 where she recommended anyone with a pricey hospital bill call their hospital's billing department and ask for an itemized list for what exactly they're being charged.
"You go to the emergency room, you get a bill for a thousand dollars," Burns, a 40-year-old North Carolina resident said in the video. If that happens to you, she said, you should "say, 'I want an itemized bill with every single charge.'"
According to Burns, asking for an itemize receipt will prompt the billing department to review everything they charged a patient for and subsequently remove charges a patient could dispute if they spotted them in the bill.
"They don't want you to know they've charged you $37 for a f-----g Band-Aid," Burns said. "Any of those stupid charges, they're going to take them right off."
—ehvuh (@the_heva) December 29, 2019
After Burns shared the TikTok, it started to get attention on Twitter. People said they tried Burns' trick by following her video advice and also had success lowering their costly bills.
"Broooooo I went to the ER a while ago and got a huge bill over 1,000," @the_heva, who the New York Times later identified as 22-year-old Eva Zavala, wrote on Twitter. "I saw a tiktok stating that if you ask for an itemized bill they reduce it and so I called and asked for 1 and just got it and b---h I don't owe s--t now."
Zavala, a medical assistant in Oregon, went to the emergency room in March where she underwent an ultrasound and bloodwork, the Times reported. After insurance coverage, she'd racked up the $1,000 medical bill and was unsure how she'd manage to pay it all.
"I thought, you know, what could I lose doing it?" Zavala told the Times. "And so I called and I let them know who I was, and I just asked for an itemized bill for that hospital visit."
Two weeks later, Zavala received a new bill in the mail and it was for $0. "I couldn't believe it, that it was just gone," she said.
After Zavala shared the TikTok and her success with it on Twitter, another user replied to Zavala saying they "told my homegirl to do this after i saw that video and her bill went from $500 to $45."
The thread soon became a way for others to share their own successes with the genius trick.
—Jennadecals (@jen19762001) December 30, 2019
—Slimesito🐍 (@NeymarRudy) December 30, 2019
Others used it as a way to connect with fellow hospital bill-payers.
—🎉Miriam🥂 (@MiriMousee) December 30, 2019
—Elissa (@elissajoi) December 30, 2019
—Michaela💛 (@_michaelaaa__) December 30, 2019
—BrittanyLD (@BrittanyLDwyer) December 30, 2019
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