Everything you're saying is true to some degree, but I don't think most people would be willing to spend 12k just to be more comfortable, if they understood tha

Everything you're saying is true to some degree, but I don't think most people would be willing to spend 12k just to be more comfortable, if they understood that's really all they're paying for and understood clearly upfront that's how much they're paying. It's sort of analogous to the American tax situation - many, many people I've talked to refuse to do their own taxes (even a very simple 100EZ) - or even use software to do it - because they've been convinced culturally that filing taxes is so incredibly complex and if they screw up they're going to be severely punished, so instead they pay an accountant a few hundred bucks to file a 1040EZ and get their tax refund - which they don't really feel because they just take it out of the refund.