The American healthcare system is such a joke. A couple weeks ago, I had a small mole removed from the side of my right thigh near my knee. Maybe 20 minutes worth of work.

As an out-of-network provider, I now owe over $1K, and that is after my insurance chipped in a bit.

A rep I talked to suggested that I get my primary care clinic to write a referral back to my insurance so my dermatology clinic could be reclassified as "in network". Then I'd have to contact dermatology again in order to ask them to reprocess my charges and see if I can pay slightly less.

Of course, this is after I've already forked over ~$400, so I'll also have to ask for a refund if insurance ends up covering more of it.

I've had at least five phone calls and multiple messages back and forth already between my primary care clinic, the insurance, and the dermatology clinic, and I'm still waiting on my insurance to let me know if the primary's referral was approved.

All this for a tiny mole that was just a little suspect.

Frickin' A, man.