What do you do when you get in the mail one of those innocuous “This Is Not A Bill” letters for your 3-day hospital stay, while they ruled out bacterial meningitis (the cause of your stay turned out to be viral meningitis)… and the line for Account Balance has 5 figures (plus decimals): $60,714, 98?

I mean… this is going to be billed to my insurance company, but let me rewind to the beginning:

• I didn’t get hospitalized for a month. I was in the hospital for 3 days.
• I didn’t give birth to a baby. I was basically in bed most of the time, getting blood work done and a bunch of tests performed to rule out the bacterial kind of meningitis.
• I have insurance, but… what if I didn’t?

The hospital I went to (Alta Bates Summit Medical Center, in Berkeley) offers discounts for uninsured people, but… still, $60K+ for a 3-day stay in the hospital?

Does anyone else think this is simply wrong, even if my insurance ends up footing the bill in its entirety? I am certainly demanding an itemized bill tomorrow and I will make sure to go over it with a big magnifying glass to spot any possible overcharges!

Ah! Did I mention this is only the hospital bill? Specialists still haven’t sent theirs!