A (Very) Big Shoe Drops

As best I can piece together from the various insurance company statements and doctor billings, the total sticker price to keep me on, as someone once said or wrote, "the top side of the planet," is somewhere north of $600K. We've been spared the huge majority of that, but a couple days ago a bill arrived from Dr. F. -- probably the person most key to my treatment -- for nearly $22,000. She is, in the terminology of my health insurance company, a "non-participating provider," meaning using her costs more. Not that I had a choice, being unconscious at the time, not that I would have insisted -- had I been conscious -- on a "participating provider" to save money. Dr. F.'s billing department and I and my health insurance and I will have conversations about this at some point, but for now, the bill is just gently marinating in my to-do box.