This is from my first appointment with a new psychiatrist.
I'll never understand why we pretend that things are this expensive.
USA, of course, because I can't imagine anywhere else in the world working this much harder and not at all smarter.
FYI, Medicare is our government insurance for older or disabled people and is paid for mainly with taxpayer dollars as well as "small" premiums by members.
Ah. I misunderstood what the argument was; sounded like you were wondering why people say the prices are so high because you only paid $38.
One explanation for the costs I've seen is that big companies seek discounts for the insurance they provide, so hospitals started just inflating the prices to give them a perceived discount without having to basically sell at a cost to them. Somehow those just became the regular prices everyone pays, and it's ridiculous. Like it might cost $100 for a single Aspirin.
We could fix this by not allowing someone to charge different prices to different people. There shouldn’t be any of this fake negotiating. The price should be the price.
Agreed! I'm also frustrated they won't give accurate estimates. They just say that it depends. But it's like... don't they have an hourly rate or a piece rate? Something more accurate than "it will be $100 to $2000"???