It is not a secret that health care can be a bit… iffy sometimes. And by that we mean expensive and unaffordable for way more people than we may realize.
You can unexpectedly do something like dislocate your shoulder and boom — depending on your insurance — you are hit with a medical bill that is worth thousands of soul-crushing dollars.
Tori Austin and Stephen Johnson are engaged. They were on a Carnival Dream Cruise vacation when something terrible happened out of nowhere. At first, they were having fun… But then Stephen became ill.
On that same trip, he was diagnosed with diabetes and pancreatitis.
Of course, these were conditions that were manageable, but they will still change his life. It is also just not news you want to get on a cruise vacation with your bride-to-be.
And to add insult to injury, the hospital bill that came after the diagnosis was nothing short of upsetting.
It was a whopping $14,000. Not many people have $14,000 lying around.
With three days in intensive care, things added up pretty quickly and the two did not have traveler’s insurance.
To somehow add even more insult to injury, the couple was then held hostage at the hospital due to their inability to pay the full $14k. They tried to create a plan so that they could pay it off in segments back at home, but it was not taken into consideration.
The story was spread around and the word eventually reached Tyler Perry. It caught his attention and he decided to take action, step in and help out the struggling couple who was being held against their will (the windows in the room were literally locked, preventing them from walking out).
“It’s been a nightmare. We just want to come home,” Tori told WGCL.
What makes it even more frightening is that without Perry’s help, the couple could have been stuck there for much longer.
“Today I am thankful for and will always be thankful for Tyler Perry,” Tori wrote Facebook. “My mom also was a huge fan of his,” she continued. There is no doubt that Perry gained a couple more fans after this too — not that he even needed more to begin with.
She also confirmed that the two aren’t afraid to travel because of this and that they would go to Mexico again.
“What is going on with Stephen has nothing to do with the entire country, it has to do with this particular hospital,” she wrote. She also said that “we were unaware that this particular hospital and administration staff have been known to take Americans passports and hold them for payment.”
The hospital they were being held at — which clearly takes advantage of American tourists — is Progreso Hospital. That is where the couple was required to seek medical treatment while they were at the Carnival.
Perry is an actor/writer/producer/comedian/director who works out of Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta, Georgia.
While the story began to spread before him, he most certainly gained more press for the couple who eventually appeared on Good Morning America to talk about it. Here’s to hoping that this disheartening story will teach hospitals to treat people better.
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