Medical costs

I was just glancing at the medical bill from the hospital, which has a big red stamp printed ESTIMATION only! Huh, they better be pretty accurate, I thought when I had my c-section and got the bill for 22,000 and only had to pay I think 2,000 when it was said it done because of the elected things they charge you for, those lovely maternity huge underwear, menstrual diapers, an epideral, etc. Well, I about had a panic attack looking at how much things cost. Just to be in the ICU a day is 1,350. Tylenol is a 1.00, I had to have a blood transfusion so that was I think 5,000 and the list goes on for 8 pages of every little thing. So our estimation bill is 28,000 for 5 days in the hospital at Queen's and that isn't even counting the ER visit on Monday night. However, even though we chose to have HMA insurance we only had to pay 2400 and now anytime I get sick or maybe have another baby my 2500 copay is already paid! On a good note we found out that our insurance isn't sucky but it does have more work or strings then HMSA did. So, Lesson learned never go without insurance! Can you imagine not having insurance and this happens to you.