Azeltir
3mo ago
Your comment suggested to me that the provider shouldn't be concerned about what you're calling "patient comfort" here - that "bad feelings happen" and who cares if it's before your surgery. The author of the NYT piece is communicating that the provider SHOULD be (and probably is) concerned about that emotional state, and that having scary financial concerns get dropped on you the day before a surgery is something that ought to be avoided.
And not to get too linguistic-descriptivist, but I'm afraid it's too late to be too prescriptive about the expansion of the meaning of "mental health" for the wider world.
Azeltir
3mo ago
I think the author is making a somewhat more reasonable point than "we shouldn't have to worry about the bill" - it's that they shouldn't be having such a worry added on last-minute to the existing worries of a surgery! Maybe it shouldn't be called "mental health", but what would you prefer for such a reasonable ask?
Even back in the reddit days the main thread vote counts were very low. I've always wondered about that too.
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