Under the Knife

I found out I had an inguinal hernia before I left Korea for some time at home. It was small, didn't bother me much, and from what several doctors told me, wasn't really a big deal. However, surgery is the only way to deal with hernias and I thought it was probably a good idea to get it fixed before I went off to the middle of nowhere in Mongolia or China, to avoid rare but serious complicatons. Too bad I didn't have enough time to do it before I left Korea. It would've cost about $300 when I had insurance.

Getting it at home was out of the question. I have no American insurance, and an average figure I found on the internet put the cost at about $7,000. I called a local hospital just to be sure, and they assured me that it would be between $9,000 and $13,000.

So my first order of business in Korea is getting cut open and sewn back up. Even without insurance here, it will cost me less than $1,000, and I get a swanky private room with my own bathroom and flatscreen TV for two nights. In fact the room is so nice that I may stay another night or two since the room itself is costing me little more than a hostel.