An American Sickness: How Healthcare Became Big Business and How You Can Take It Back

Wanda Wickizer began experiencing sudden debilitating headaches and vomiting episodes. Wickizer was denied transportation to the hospital by paramedics who believed she had food poisoning that needed to take its course. However, her symptoms were increasing in severity, and her fiancé drove her to the hospital. A scan revealed a burst vessel in her brain, and she was rushed to a bigger hospital for emergency surgery. Recovery was grueling and took the latter part of a year, and while she was grateful to survive, she was distraught by the onslaught of bills she received. Most were in the tens of thousands, and the hospital bill itself was a whopping $356,884.42. Wickizer already had a low income and was uninsured at the time of her burst vessel. When she finally received an itemized bill in hopes of contesting it, she was shocked to find that parts of it were borderline nonsensical. She had not been billed for every single day of her stay, and only one of her many scans were accounted for. Though she had been delirious upon her arrival at the hospital (to the point that her father was granted power of attorney for life and death decisions), the forms she had signed upon her admittance were considered legally binding proof of her consent to pay any and all fines incurred from her stay.