People act like “how could it cost this much?” - very clearly it doesn’t and the legal regime and history of the US has led to 3rd party actors negotiating behi

People act like “how could it cost this much?” - very clearly it doesn’t and the legal regime and history of the US has led to 3rd party actors negotiating behind the scenes between healthcare providers and patients. Wage controls in WWII led to the concept of employer-provided health insurance. It all went downhill from there for obvious reasons.