the patient asketh how much the procedure costs.

the doctor knoweth not.

the hospital knoweth not.

the insurer knoweth something but telleth it in a dialect spoken only by invoices.

six weeks later a parchment arriveth demanding an amount selected by a haunted wheel.

horatio
what was purchased

a procedure

what did it cost

depends who asketh

what if the patient cannot pay

then the sickness acquireth a finance department

medicine hath performed a miracle

and billing hath performed another in which the number changeth when observed