Oh The Humanity!!!

I was supposed to be on the operating table right now. However my surgeon called yesterday afternoon with the news that he wanted another Pet scan. That's two strikes at once. For one thing, I had prepared myself for the surgery today. And strike two, I have come to abhor Pet scans. I'm not altogether sure why.
The first Pet scan I had was back in May of this year. It wasn't too bad, except that my handler told me that the test would take 50 minutes. Well, 50 minutes came and went and I was still laying motionless halfway in the tube. Of course I had to go to the bathroom which I had begun smiling about at the 45 minute mark. At 54 minutes I was getting uncomfortable. Well, the whole episode made me lass than a fan of the test.
Then came Pet scan number two. This was pre-operative and was scheduled by the surgeon. His office made the appointment at the hospital's diagnostic facility. When the hospital called to confirm the appointment, I was informed that there was a $250.- co-pay. This struck me as slightly queer as my first scan was only $100.-. So with the help of my daughter, we discovered that the hospital was billing the scan as an outpatient procedure and could charge more. The insurance company suggested that I call my doctor and inform him of the discrepancy in co-pay prices.
I called the surgeon's office and (feeling like a real skinflint) explained the situation. They told me to call the hospital and see if I could cut a deal with them to do it cheaper. When I called the hospital, the woman that I spoke to was not receptive to knocking $150.- off of the bill. She tried to explain why they charged more than the disgnostic center I had gone to first. If you recall, the insurance company already told me why the hospital charged more and the reason was not because "they have a lot of BIG MACHINES there that cost a lot of money" as I was told by the hospital contact.
Absent a convincing answer, I called the surgeon back and asked if I could have the scan done at the first place so I could save myself $150.-. They said that they would check with the surgeon and let me know. I gave them the name of the first joint and in short order I got a call with an appointment time.
By now the whole surgery and mumbo jumbo about the scan was begining to pester me. So when I went in for the scan I became immediately uncomfortable. Once again I was told it would take 50 minutes. At the 3 minute mark I almost yelled to get me out of the contraption. But I hung in through the itches for the entire 58 minutes. Amen. Until they told me that I had to go to another building for a CT scan so the images could be fused. Well, there was no additional charge and the CT scans only take about 5 minutes so I got that over with. Finally ready for surgery.
Wrongo pally! When the doctor called yesterday, he told me that he and the radiologist were not happy with the quality of the scan. He explained that he wanted another one done at the hospital so he would have undisputable infomation prior to invading my innards. Natrually when the hospital called to confirm my appointment for tomorrow they reminded me that there would be a $250.- co-pay.
So the moral to the story is what? Don't take any wooden nickels anywhere you can spend plenty of greenbacks.