My dog needed surgery last month, and the veterinary office handed me an estimate of charges. Try asking for an estimate from a doctor or hospital. It won’t happen. Their attitude and ours seem to be, it costs what it costs. And we all know they will sock the insurance company, so we don’t care.
Because our health-care system relies on socking the insurance company, insurers and health plans have come up with their own ways of socking us back – denied claims, bigger co-pays, cancelled coverage if you’re too sick, denied coverage if you have a pre-existing condition, and capped lifetime payout.