Holy crap health insurance

  If I did not have health insurance through my work I would now probably be bankrupt. We got the paperwork for my wife's shoulder surgery over the weekend showing the cost, copays, deductibles etc. The surgery centre which simply provided the facilities for the operation tried to charge $20000. Yeah, freaking $20k. The insurance company negotiated a "discount" of $17500. So if I had not insurance I would be charged $20k but because I do have insurance the actual cost is only $2500. What they hell? I have no idea how they get away with this. Not to mention that the insurance company can't add up, they showed the $20k being charged twice when in fact is was two billing codes for the same charge. So the total they showed was $40k since they had to list the items separately but then show the payments correctly. Talk about a dumb system. No insurance company, you did not "save" me 98%, you only saved somewhere near 60% if you take the amount we have to pay compared to the amount the insurance paid due to their "discounts". Talk about a screwed system.