Rowina and Chip:
My prayers are with both of you! You are right that the corrupt health system tries to systematically bankrupt everyone in its path! I had to have a diagnostic procedure last fall. Well, my insurance did pay part of the bill, but the total bill was over $3000. and this was for a procedure that takes ten minutes to perform (with NO anesthesia, I might add). I figured it up - there are 6 ten-minute periods in one hour, so that equates to $18,000./hour! If the procedure were only done SIX times a week, it would net over 3 million dollars a year to the people who are doing the procedure (physician's group) and I am sure they probably do this SIX times per DAY on some days!  When I balked at this atrocity, I was told that - "well, we have to rent the equipment and the office to do this procedure." Uh-huh, yeah right - at $18,000/hour? Who are they kidding? Why is this allowed? Why do insurance companies even allow it? WHY do consumers put up with it? Why don't physicians have prices of things posted so people can "shop" for lower prices? It is because they don't want competition!  And because  big medicine has managed to MONOPOLIZE healthcare in this country and no one seems to care!  I complained, but most people don't say a word about this kind of gross travesty. Does our healthcare need an overhaul? Well, when you consider that it is being run by many thugs, this type abuse should be considered extortion. This is blatant corruption and should not be tolerated. However, the "silent majority" just keeps putting up with it. How long does everyone just stay silent? The last time this happened to me, I sat down and wrote a letter to our state department of insurance and copied the facility where it happened and the Better Business Bureau on my letter. I got results folks! When you send a copy of your complaint letter to the Better Business Bureau of your area, or if you address your main letter to the BBB,  it forces the offending party to make an official response and describe the action that they are taking as a result - and they hate doing that!
 
Rene