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Happy New Year to you all! Next year the bill will be higher still. Sutter Health spokeswoman is priceless. What else could she say? Best, Uwe Dec 31, 2013, 12:46pm PST UPDATED: Dec 31, 2013, 1:26pm PST Appendectomy bill from Sutter Health goes viral [A Sacramento man's appendectomy bill through Sutter Health has gone viral after he posted it to Reddit.]<http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/news/2013/12/31/appendectomy-bill-sutter-health-viral.html?s=image_gallery> Enlarge<http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/news/2013/12/31/appendectomy-bill-sutter-health-viral.html?s=image_gallery> zcypher, via imgur A Sacramento man's appendectomy bill through Sutter Health has gone viral after he posted it to Reddit. "I never truly understood how much health care in the US costs until I got appendicitis in October," redditor zcypher<http://www.reddit.com/tb/1tugnm>says in his post. "I'm a 20-year-old guy. Thought other people should see this to get a real idea of how much an unpreventable illness costs in the US." [http://assets.bizjournals.com/sacramento/images/robertson_kathy_2013.jpg]<http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/news/2013/12/31/sacramento/bio/5161/Kathy+Robertson> Kathy Robertson<http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/news/2013/12/31/sacramento/bio/5161/Kathy+Robertson> Senior Staff Writer-Sacramento Business Journal Email<mailto:[log in to unmask]> | Twitter<https://twitter.com/robertsonsacbiz> | LinkedIn<http://www.linkedin.com/pub/kathy-robertson/26/537/965> | Google+<http://plus.google.com/107168198336844873596?rel=author> It was the public relations nightmare after Christmas for Sutter Health<http://www.bizjournals.com/profiles/company/us/ca/sacramento/sutter_health/3239302> when a local patient posted his appendectomy bill to Reddit last week, and it went viral. The Oct. 1 procedure and 24-hour stay atSutter General Hospital<http://www.bizjournals.com/profiles/company/us/ca/sacramento/sutter_general_hospital/793385> cost more than $55,000. Because the patient was covered by his family's insurance plan, the out-of-pocket cost was $11,119.53. Posted on the social media site Reddit on Dec. 27, the bill was picked up by Social Zoo, Business Insider, Huffington Post and others. Comments ranged from an Aussie with appendicitis who stayed a few days in the hospital - but never saw a bill - to a Malaysian who claims to have paid the equivalent of $25 for the procedure. "I never truly understood how much health care in the US costs until I got appendicitis in October," Reddit user zcypher says in his post.<http://www.reddit.com/tb/1tugnm> "I'm a 20-year-old guy. Thought other people should see this to get a real idea of how much an unpreventable illness costs in the US." It got more than 10,000 comments. According to Healthcare Blue Book, the typical fee providers accept as payment from insurance companies for an appendectomy is $10,091. It's slightly higher in the Sacramento region: $12,824. The blue book is an online service offered by Michigan-based nonprofit health planPriority Health<http://www.bizjournals.com/profiles/company/us/mi/grand_rapids/priority_health/2687584>. Health care pricing is a complex and confusing issue that can't be explained in social media sound bites, Sutter spokeswoman Nancy Turner<http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/news/2013/12/31/sacramento/search/results?q=Nancy%20Turner> said. "Social media has advantages to individuals and organizations in getting messages out there, but the conversations can move so fast - and often in bites of 140 characters or fewer - that they don't allow for the level of detail necessary on multifaceted issues," she said. Sutter agrees that a better billing structure is needed, one where published charges are closer to actual costs, Turner added. But that will only be possible when government programs cover the cost of providing services. Kathy Robertson covers health care, law and lobbying, labor, workplace issues and immigration for the Sacramento Business Journal.