Yep, it's pretty common for people here to be charged with bills so high, they go bankrupt ^^; I'm lucky because my procedure wouldn't require me to stay in the hospital overnight. I've heard of some cases in which people have to be admitted longer and come away owing $10-20K+. Compared to that, $1000 is chump change.

One time I went to the hospital for severe migraines. I was only there for literally thirty minutes before they released me with a prescription for painkillers and I got charged a little over $100 for the visit. It's awful.

As for my schooling, I'm not going to graduate school because in my field, graduate degrees are just for people who want to teach at a university. I'm fully done unless I decide to take a few classes for fun here and there at my local community college :) I'm thinking about learning sign language