Over 10 years ago, I had my gallbladder taken out. I spent two nights in the hospital (one in the ER, where they diagnosed it, and one more after they took it out).

I was uninsured at the time, and at the end was given a bill for $18,000.

Gallbladder removal is the simplest major surgery that can be done on a person; it's a simple organ to remove, and rarely presents any challenges.

I could easily see surpassing that dollar amount for anything more complicated.

For comparison, the total cost to do the surgery in a developing nation (where I spent several years in my early 20s) would have been $300-400, according to friends there.

In 2004, I had gallbladder removed. Total bill for surgery and overnight stay was around $11k. The insurance I had at the time covered things, and I got a bill for around ~$40. That was it. I had employer-provided insurance, but I'd been there less than a month(!).

With different insurance, different state, a few years later, my wife had to go to ER with pneumonia. 5 hours in total to draw some blood, xray, and a drip. Bill later - with blue cross insurance - was ~$3000.

Health "care" here is insanely priced and managed.

had mine out last year. 3 nights in hospital. the bill for just the room and what little food i was allowed to have after surgery was 40K billed to insurance. that didn't include all of the smaller charges submitted by the pharmacy, radiology, anesthesia, the surgeon, the GI doc who visited once...