Mum's heartbreak at $4 million hospital bill after birth of triplets
A US mum's response to a TikTok trend about the cost of having children has raised eyebrows and gone viral.
The trend initially started with a mum stating she's finally paid off her childbirth bill for her now two-year-old child and asked other US mums how long it took them.
Kimberley Guinn's response had people heartbroken.
The 42-year-old mum of triplet daughters said that they were born at 31 weeks premature and that she had to spend two weeks in the hospital before they were born as one of them was not receiving enough nutrients.
“They spent 62, 68 and 82 days in the NICU [Neonatal Intensive Care Unit] respectively. And when they came home my final bill was US$1.23 million (AUD$1.6m) each for them, not including my own,” she said.
“After insurance, I ended up owing about US$65,000 (AUD $87,000) so I cashed by 401k (pension) so I could pay for that.
“And so yeah I’m a widow because my husband was killed and I will never ever, ever, ever be able to retire in my life,” she said.
@gkm15099#stitch with @mslilyflowers How old was your baby? Triplet edition #triplets #medicalbills #delivery
In a series of videos, she clarified that her and her husband Frank didn't qualify for any financial benefits as they were employed at the time of the birth, but explained her case was an outlier.
“My case is an outlier in American healthcare and that is because my triplets were transferred from one NICU to another,” Ms Guinn said.
“The second NICU took our insurance but the specialists and doctors that bill independently did not.
“That is why my bill was so high. My insurance covered everything that was in network fairly decently but they didn’t cover the out of network stuff.”
She has since turned down offers for donations and urged others to turn to organisations that can help women in similar situations.
Photo credits: Yahoo! News