This $55,000 bill is the perfect example of our broken hospital system

"I never truly understood how much healthcare in the US costs until I got appendicitis in October," wrote Reddit user zcypher, identifying himself as "a 20 year old guy." His total charges came to $55,029.31, and even though insurance covered most of that, he was still sacked with $11,119.53 to come up with on his own. While there's no way to verify the experience of a random Redditor, his experience of major sticker shock after a trip to the hospital is not unique.