15:00, 14:59, 14:58...

Start the timer. I have fifteen minutes and counting left of fame.
If you go back in the history of my posts, you’ll find the one talking about how I had by appendix removed and was able to knock down a fat bill. In the process of time, Smart Money Magazine and this girl from Wiretap.com got a hold of me and asked me some questions and stuff. I told them my story and they said they were going to put it in some article.
Well, Paula sent me this link and I went to it. It didn’t work, but I was directed to this site www.alternet.org. Basically, it is a really liberal site that is 180 degrees from my political and moral values; so I just Googled my name and the words “health care.” And boom:

Wiretap.com - http://82.165.179.211/rights/42785/
Some site - http://standeyo.com/NEWS/06_Health/060913.hospitals.wont.tell.html
AOL - http://money.aol.com/smoney/general/canvas3/_a/10-things-your-hospital-wont-tell-you/20060915111109990001
Random Blog - http://alternativemedicinetruth.blogspot.com
Yahoo! - http://biz.yahoo.com/weekend/hospital2_1.html
SmartMoney - www.smartmoney.com/10things/index.cfm?story=october2006

So, there you have it. With the exception of the first one – the Alternet one – I don’t mind the articles. I should have known that such an experience would make its way on to a couple of liberal/socialist healthcare oriented agendas, but I thought my experience could be really helpful to people. The key for me was to ask and the various places I owed money to were more than willing to work with me.
For the most part they got the facts right, though the numbers differ between stories. The reality is bills of almost $22,000 were reduced to just under $5000.
Anyway, I’m famous. Wahoo.