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I can't get past the paywall on the article, but how exactly did he get a bill for an X-ray that totaled $69,000? Much more advanced diagnostics, like CT scans,

• db48x 5y ago
  Apparently it was an x–ray, a CT scan, some medication, and two nights in a hospital bed. That’s the real problem. Hospitals are great if you have been in a car accident and could die at any moment, but terrible for anything else. In particular, hospitals in the US are well–known for lying about their prices. You’ll get a bill for some ridiculous amount, and your insurance will negotiate it down to something more reasonable. Of course they don’t negotiate prices on a case–by–case basis; instead the large insurance companies negotiate “bulk discounts” ahead of time. It is unlikely that his insurance paid more than $10k. Ironically he probably could have paid even less if he had asked for the cash prices at the hospital, and then gotten reimbursed by his insurance. But even that is too much. If he had gone to his primary–care physician or an urgent–care clinic he probably would have paid a tenth of that or less, plus he could have slept in his own bed.