No, I didn't lose a finger. But I did learn a new word that day...I had an evulsion, not a laceration. And honestly, I pondered whether I should go to the hospital or not for about twenty minutes.

I even thought about driving myself, but right about then is when I started feeling lightheaded, and that is when I called the rescue squad.

As for where my estimate comes from:

Ride to the hospital: I took a cab home for $29, including tip. So that is a pretty good benchmark for what a ride to the hospital costs. Bill for that was $750.

X-ray: My dentist, who doesn't accept insurance, can do an X-ray for $60. Not sure why the hospital charged $3000.

Tetanus shot: Recently had to get my son a tetanus shot. At a clinic, it cost $75. Personally, I'm not sure why that cost more than $10...not like a tetanus shot is new technology.

Morphine: Just about the oldest painkiller known to man. If not for the "controlled substance" part, this would be on the Wal Mart $4 prescription list.

Bag of saline and stitches: True cost is probably pennies, but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt since they do have to be guaranteed sterile and say $20.

90 minutes of care from healthcare professionals. I have no issue paying professionals well. So let's pay them half a mil a year (this is in the Roanoke area, not NYC), which is about $250/hour. So $375 there.

All that is getting me to right around $600. So maybe bump that up by 25-50% for overhead and profit, and you are still under a grand. (OK, so I undershot things by a couple hundred bucks. I'll try to do better next time).

Even if you bump that up another 50% just because it was on a Saturday, that still doesn't get you on the same planet as $22000.