Former The Walking Dead actor Daniel Newman is on the hook for a hospital bill totaling $9,116 after being tested for coronavirus in a Georgia emergency room, saying the cost and the lack of test results “infuriates” him. Newman attended the 2020 Mardi Gras in Sydney, Australia, where he was “exposed to some sick people,” the actor wrote in a March 23 Instagram post. After returning to the United States, Newman developed symptoms and was notified a member of his group tested positive for COVID-19. Because he only exhibited “mild symptoms,” Newman was told to “self-quarantine” and that his test could not be processed. The actor still has not received test results from the hospital visit he says cost $9,116.
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“I started to get a fever, just started to feel kind of chilled. I was like, ‘Oh, crap, whatever they have, I think I got it,’” Newman told CBS This Morning. Newman said he was told, “‘We are not allowed to process the test, because there’s a really limited bandwidth of capacity on how many tests we process per day. So we are not allowed to send off the test for anybody who has mild symptoms.’”
When Newman asked if his insurance would cover the cost of the test, he was told he would be responsible for paying the bill. “They were like, ‘No. You just came into an emergency room, it’s going to be thousands of dollars,’” he said, adding his insurance refuses to pay an amount coming to over $9,000.
“Not even on a personal level, on a humanitarian level, that infuriates me. Because no one can afford this,” Newman said. “How can … a family of two or four kids afford even one person at $9,000? Much less four people.”
In his Instagram post, Newman pleaded for his followers to practice proper procedures, including handwashing and social distancing.
“Why after almost 3 months since China is our country not prepared with tests, masks, hand sanitizer, toilet paper! Why after one day of shaky stock markets did they invest 1.5 trillion into the markets, but not the Healthcare system after three months! This was not a surprise, this was not being prepared,” Newman wrote in the post. “We’ve already gone through #H1N1 #SARS why didn’t we have a pandemic unit ready when this happens every few years!? Everyone please treat each other with kindness and Love ❤️! We are all going through this together.”
“Young people are not immune, thousands of people are dying around the world,” Newman added. “Please be safe, wash your hands, stay 6 feet or more away from people and stay home.”
Newman played Kingdom guard Daniel, a member of King Ezekiel’s (Khary Payton) army, and appeared in Seasons 6, 7 and 8 of The Walking Dead.
For all things The Walking Dead, follow the author @CameronBonomolo on Twitter. Disclosure: ComicBook is owned by CBS Interactive, a division of ViacomCBS.
