So, people in the U.S. are billed an astronomical sum for a MRI, even with insurance? The most expensive MRI bill for someone in the "mutualism" system here in

So, people in the U.S. are billed an astronomical sum for a MRI, even with insurance? The most expensive MRI bill for someone in the "mutualism" system here in Uruguay is U$ 100. I tried to explain the Uruguayan "mutualist" socialist health system here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1627862 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1627862 "Mutual organisations do not have external shareholders - they are controlled by their members. Members may be users of the mutual, employees, other stakeholders or a combination of these Mutual organisations are either owned by and run in the interests of existing members, as is the case in building societies, cooperatives and friendly societies, or, as in many public services, owned on behalf of the wider community and run in the interests of the wider community" A HN member compared them to credit unions, I think it's a valid analogy. The mutualist system is always near bankruptcy and is perfectible (and the government is always meddling), but it doesn't bankrupt it's users and it kind of works (life expectancy here in Uruguay is the same as in the U.S.). Edit - funnily, it seems it's very similar to the Japanese case (and MRI's cost U$ 98 there too): http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2247969 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2247969