#IWasBilled

Hey everybody!

I know you’ve been hearing from You’re the Cure for months about surprise medical billing and the work happening in Congress to protect patients from its financially devastating impacts. Right now, we’re still pushing to make sure this is a priority for lawmakers as millions of Americans are facing daily uncertainty due to COVID-19.

With that in mind, you can help us out! Members of Congress have been hearing your phone calls and reading your emails, but what they need to know now is that surprise medical billing is part of the everyday conversation for families across the country. That’s why we just launched a campaign called #IWasBilled to do a social media takeover of the conversations around surprise medical billing.

As a quick refresher: More than HALF of all Americans have received a surprise medical bill. Seriously! That means that if you haven’t, someone you know and love has. What we’re asking you to do is share a sentence or two on social media about yourself or someone you know who has received a surprise medical bill and make sure to use #IWasBilled to join our work. Once we start seeing patients sharing their stories, we’ll put them all together to share with Congress to show them people are still talking about surprise bills, and they want a solution.

Even if you’re not the most social media savvy advocate out there, your online post can have a world of impact! Using Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Linkedin, TikTok or even YouTube, share a surprise medical billing story using #IWasBilled now through October 9^th. If you’re like me and love an example, I’m sharing a few stories that might help you think of what to say:

• - #IWasBilled over $300 PER VISIT for blood draws that my doctor prescribed after my open-heart surgery. I had to stop going to lab because I couldn’t afford to keep getting surprise bills in the mail, even though it was an important part of my care plan.
  
  
• - After the birth of my beautiful daughter, I was shocked to get a surprise medical bill for over $6,000 (!!) from the provider who gave me an epidural at my in-network hospital. I never want to have to decide between buying diapers OR paying bills I wasn’t expecting. #IWasBilled
  
  
• - When I had a heart attack in 2015, I was lucky that bystanders called an ambulance immediately and got me to the ER. I wasn’t so lucky when I found out months later that #IWasBilled nearly $2,700 because my life-saving ride wasn’t “in-network.”

Not sure if you have a story? That’s okay! Post a quick surprise billing fact and ask your friends if this has happened to them. You might be “surprised” how many people you know have experienced this, and therefore how many people you know could have been helped if Congress acted quicker!

• More than half of American adults have received a surprise medical bill.
• Roughly 10,000 Americans per day are hit with an out-of-network surprise medical bill.
• On average, almost 1 in 5 emergency visits result in at least one out-of-network charge.
• After surgery, 1 in 5 patients get a surprise medical bill.

It’s as easy as that! Next time you log on to your favorite social media pages, talk about your surprise medical billing story to help others know they’re not alone if they’ve received a surprise medical bill. Congress NEEDS to see that people are still talking about surprise medical billing.

Use #IWasBilled to show them. And while you’re online, give the You’re the Cure Facebook and Twitter pages a follow to make sure you see all of our latest and greatest posts.

Thanks!

Rhianna