In December 2023, Jesse hurt his back. Badly. Slipped disc, fractured lumbar spine, six months of sciatica — and a crash course in everything wrong with how Americans get billed for healthcare. One phone call saved him $1,500 on a single MRI. Three epidural injections failed, and the system's answer was a fourth one. A trip to the ER produced a CT scan that cost four times what the cash MRI did. Jesse works in healthcare. He knew what questions to ask, knew cash pricing was an option, knew to get second opinions. And he still probably got taken somewhere in the process. In Part 1 of our hospital pricing series, Jesse uses his own experience to pull back the curtain on facility fees, the chargemaster — the secret price list hospitals never meant for you to see — and the federal transparency rule that 70% of hospitals are simply ignoring. If you've ever gotten a hospital bill that made no sense, this episode is for you. Spoiler: the bill wasn't confusing by accident.