Woman Cries During Doctor’s Visit, Gets Charged Extra for “Emotional Consultation”

A woman was shocked to see that after crying during a trip to her gynecologist's office she was hit with a surcharge for a "brief emotional consultation."

Erica (@necktattoo_mama) posted a viral TikTok delineating the situation, and others in the comments section of the video said that they had similar encounters at their respective doctor's offices.

"So very recently I had to go to the gynecologist for my yearly exam. And I got weighed for the first time in a long time."

Erica says that she wasn't too happy with seeing the results of her weigh-in, adding that she wasn't too happy with the number that came up on the device.

"So I'm sitting on the exam table, you know, naked. Covered in a tiny paper vest. And the doctor comes in and she says so how is everything? And I just start bawling. I don't even know where it came from but I just started crying and saying how upset I was about my weight."

Initially, the TikToker states that her doctor had a conciliatory response to her outburst. "And so she was very kind and very gracious. We kind of talked through some emotional things and options and things like that. And then you know we went ahead with the exam and it was fine."

However, what Erica didn't know was that the conversation the doctor had with her wasn't just a heart to heart from a medical professional with a patient. But there was a surcharge for tears. "Two weeks later I see an invoice in my email from the gynecologist for $11."

This extra charge came as a surprise to the TikToker. "I'm like it's a yearly exam it should be covered 100%. In addition to the yearly exam, she coded or put in brief emotional intervention and the copay for that is $11. So I, today, had to pay to cry naked at the gynecologist's office."

She added, "And I thought to myself if I wanna cry naked I can just do that for free, so, that's insurance for ya," she says, looking into the camera as her video comes to a close.

In a follow-up remark she posted to the comments section of the video, Erica remarked that she wasn't blaming the doctor's office for the charge, but rather the insurance company to looking at the notes during her visit.

It would seem that whoever was working at the insurance company and looking at the notes pertaining to her meeting with the doctor saw the note regarding her "brief emotional consultation" and decided the company wasn't going to be on the hook for that financially.

"To clarify, I don’t blame her at all for documenting the service she provided. I think the way that insurance works creates barriers to comprehensive preventative care," Erica wrote.

This isn't the first time a patient complained about being billed over an "emotional consultation," however. The Independent published an article in 2022, pointing to a woman's social media post about her sister who was hit with a $40 surcharge after she cried while at the doctor's office.

NYC YouTuber Camille Johnson published a photo of the bill on her X (formerly Twitter) account, writing "My little sister has been really struggling with a health condition lately and finally got to see a doctor. They charged her $40 for crying."

TikTok users who responded to Erica's video replied that they, too, were shocked to learn about the particulars of her meeting with the doctor. One sympathetic commenter remarked: "Ouch! Thinking you are getting simple compassion and it’s specifically billed."

Someone else replied to her video stating that they, too, were hit with an emotional consultation charge. Their conversation with the doctor sounded even more "brief" than the "brief" consultation Erica had with her own healthcare advisor.

"On my annual my doctor billed me for mental counseling too. what counsel did I get? She asked if I saw a therapist, I said no. She said everyone should. Then she billed me for it," they wrote.

And while Erica said that she didn't fault the doctor for referencing the "brief emotional consultation" in her notes, another user on the app did. "She’s a garbage human for even including that I don’t even care," they penned.

Another user remarked that they were incensed at the charge because this might keep people away from discussing their issues whenever they visit the doctor for fear of incurring additional fees. "This makes me so mad! This prevents people from discussing issues at their annuals…the whole purpose of an annual exam."