Holy Crap.

Literally.

I just logged onto my health insurance company's website to check up on the status of my medical claims--and saw a "pending" claim from the hospital, for last Saturday morning's four-hour extravaganza. Since the claim is pending I cannot view the itemized details, but the total amount billed?

$9,257.20.

Let's see... that would include four hours' rent on the gurney, a bevy of lab tests, one bag of IV fluid, one tablet of sublingual Zofran (anti-nausea), 1 milligram of IV Dilaudid (to make the runs stop), a CT scan, a brief examination by the ER doctor, and a cup of apple juice. The cup of coffee I had in the waiting room on the way out is not included in the bill. Neither, I expect, is the radiologist's fees for reading the CT scan.

As soon as the itemized version shows up I will post it. But gee... do you think I have finally met my annual deductible??