Remember a month or so ago when I split my scalp open and got an ambulance ride to the ER and a CT scan and an EKG and some staples whacked into my head? The bill came.

It was $200.

Well, that was my out-of-pocket. The actual bill was $4,598.37.

Well, that’s what the insurance company paid by contract. The actual actual bill was $25,546.25.

It’s like I got a twenty-five grand bonus just because I have a job.

The American medical system is insane.

Still waiting on the ambulance invoice.

@gknauss I don't talk about it much, but I have some pretty serious concerns about how the value of the medical industry is calculated.

Like, not to sound like I need to adjust my tin-foil hat, but... When insurance companies own hospitals and hospitals own insurance companies, what control in the metrics alone guards against a hospital "charging" itself a hojillion dollars for a procedure that is then covered nearly completely by insurance, just to make the service sound valuable?

@mark @gknauss or to work around the guaranteed 80% medical loss ratio in the aca and make much more profit?