Steven Brill has a must-read cover story in Time this week detailing how the federal government's refusal to set rates for procedures, services and products means we all pay more for health care. I found this out first-hand last fall when my doctor tried to charge me $95 for a flu shot.
I was in for a routine physical and mentioned, "One of these days I need to go to CVS and get a flu shot." She said, "Oh, I can give you one right now." She grabbed a vaccine and gave me the shot - the whole process lasted about a minute. There was no discussion of price - I assumed it was either free or they'd charge me what the pharmacy does, about $25.
A month later I got this bill:
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