“Send it back!!!”: mom stuns TikTok with photo of her $1.5M NICU baby bill
A mom on TikTok recently stunned viewers after sharing the jaw-dropping medical bill from her newborn’s stay in intensive care. Paola Saldivar (@paolaamairani_) uploaded a photo of her daughter, Analis, while holding a statement from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona above her.
The total on the statement came to an eye-watering $1,590,784.
In the video's caption, Paola jokingly wrote, "There goes her college fund 🤪 jk Thank God Analis qualified for a high-risk program that would help." The caption reassured viewers that insurance covered (likely) most of the overwhelming amount. Nevertheless, her post sparked a heated conversation about American healthcare costs. Within days, it had reached over 6.4 million views and over 10K comments.
A million-dollar NICU baby
Text overlay on the TikTok image read, "My million dollar NICU baby." For many parents, the phrase hit close to home. TikTokers quickly flooded the comments with disbelief. One person wrote, "USA putting families in debt and then complain about lower birth rates 🥲"
"If you call their billing dept and ask for an itemized list, that number drops SIGNIFICANTLY, which I find comical," another TikToker commented. "Once you ask for what they actually spent money on, they fess up like a child getting caught."
"American healthcare is actually insane. Why are you paying for a baby to be born," wrote a third person.
@WhereAeliaBled tweeted, "Send it back. SEND IT BACK???????!??(???"
In response to the Daily Dot, Paola wrote, "My daughter and her sister were born prematurely. Unfortunately, her sister didn’t make it. My surviving daughter had a 3-month NICU stay and had a lot of life-saving interventions and even came home on oxygen."
Paola clarified the program that Analis qualified for through the NICU, which is an Arizona-based program called HARPP. "They help ensure she stays on track with her milestones and make sure we don’t get [a] ridiculous amount of bills."
"I shared the EOB from my insurance cause my partner and I were both in shock [at] how much it truly cost just to keep our daughter alive."
"We realize in times like these where a lot of budget cuts are being proposed, average hardworking families may not be as lucky. We just never expected our post to blow up," she added.
Childbirth costs in the U.S. and abroad
The discussion also highlighted how common NICU stays have become. According to the Health Care Cost Institute, 18% of newborn admissions involved NICU care in 2021. The average bill that year was $71,158, though costs ranged from under $5,000 to over $160,000. Length of stay varied, too; anywhere from three to 34 days. Such wide gaps reflect the differences in babies’ health conditions and the intensity of care needed.
Paola’s story reopened questions about the high cost of giving birth in America. On average, a standard delivery in the U.S. costs $10,808, while a C-section jumps to $16,106. However, prices differ dramatically around the world.
In Canada, families pay far less, from $3,195 to $5,980 on average, according to a 2021 study by Coyne College, which closed in 2022. The U.K. averages $4,500, while both Germany and France come in at just over $2,500. Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s prices rival America’s at about $12,000. Yet Japan tops the list, where giving birth costs an astonishing $61,810. Researchers note, though, that Japan remains one of the safest places to give birth.
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