“I went in for a sprained ankle. All’s they did was look at it and say, ‘The b— is sprained,’ ” Howard said in the 24-second TikTok. “Y’all ain’t never seeing that money!”
Howard isn’t just avoiding that specific medical bill. He starts the video by declaring he has no intention to ever pay any medical bills.
“I will never pay a medical bill in my life,” Howard rants. “I would rather die.”
The video has garnered more than three million views of TikTok, over 430,000 likes and thousands of comments that show Howard isn’t alone in his sentiment. Social media sites like TikTok are full of people who say their medical bills are too high and they have no intention of paying them. They’re also encouraging others to do them.
There’s also some users who are providing tips on how to lower medical bills. Lauren Meadows, a TikToker with 256,000 followers, said in one of her videos that the medical debt she incurred from giving birth was sent to a debt collector. The collector offered her a 25% discount.
“I guess the moral of the story is let your medical bills go to a debt collector, ‘cause then they’ll cut it down,” she said in the video.
Frustration over medical expenses
According to The Wall Street Journal, social-media intelligence firm Sprout Social found that in just three months there have been more than 426,000 mentions across X, BlueSky, YouTube and Reddit on medical bills, including advice on how not to pay them and how to negotiate them lower. That marks a 36,000% increase compared to the 1,163 mentions recorded in the same period last year.
It’s unsurprising that Americans are becoming increasingly frustrated with their medical bills, given that millions are dropping Affordable Care Act plans now that subsidies have ended. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, 28 million Americans were uninsured in 2025.
And even those with insurance are often left paying off medical debt. According to The Commonwealth Fund, 32% of working-age adults with private insurance are paying off medical bills or debt over time and 46% say their unpaid bills total $2,000 or more.
Howard told the Wall Street Journal he posted about his ER bill because “I feel like most people probably relate as far as hospitals trying to upcharge an insane amount,” he said.
