$900 for a short consultation does seem ridiculous.
Here are some interesting statistics from a healthcare conference I attended last year, from friends and family, and from my own experience as a volunteer firefighter in our rural county. I'm not sure what conclusion to draw from except that, yes, healthcare is expensive.
Medicare's average reimbursement rate is current 88% of actual costs. On average, and is expected to drop to 82% of actual costs by 2030. (Editorial comment: that's not sustainable...)
Private insurance's (employer healthcare) average reimbursement is 132% of actual costs and is expected to grow to 168% of actual costs by 2030. (Editorial comment: how long do you think,corporations will stand for that?)
My sister-in-law recently graduated from medical school with $300,000 in debt. She makes $180K a year as a general practicioner. With 5 years of work and two years of med school prep between undergrad and med school, she was 37 years old before she started her career and then started off a mountain of debt in the hole. And she's actually a huge cheapskate, much more frugal than I am.
A good friend from college is now a vascular surgeon. After undergrad, he did not immediately get into med school. He eventually got in, but after 4 years of med school, 3 years of surgical residency, 2 years of research, a few more years of surgical specialty, and a couple of years of fellowship, he ended up finally getting a full fledged job at 38 making about $450K. But, he had $50K of credit card debt, $300K of deferred med school debt, and zero assets. And a side and 2 kids.
Both got paid nothing while in med school and maybe $50K for 80 hour weeks as a resident, researcher, fellow, etc.
These people are making big bucks now, but they were either paying for med school with no income or getting paid close to minimum wage throughout the rest of their training, and then they start out in a big financial hole once they reach their first fully compensated position. Would we (doctors, patients, and bill payers) all be better off with a different system in which the most qualified could attend medical school at low cost and then get paid well, but not insanely, throughout their careers? The barriers to entry (med school costs) are so huge and costly, and therefore the risk is so high, can we blame them for wanting a high return on their investment?
Regarding end of life, approximately 25% of Medicare costs in the USA are spent in the last year of our elders' lives.
Finally, in our county, there are normally 4 or 5 (depending on the season) ambulances on duty 24/7. Over the course of the year, the system averages 5 calls per day. One ambulance staffed 24 hours a day requires a paramedic and an EMT. Let's say that team costs $60/hr combined with benefits, or about $1,440 per day. The ambulance costs $250K to buy and outfit, lasts five years, and it burns a lot of diesel running around a rural county. Then there are all the consumables - bandages, blood, plasma, needles, tubes, etc. Pretty easy to get to $2,000 for a 5 minute ambulance ride with those numbers.
There are many parts of healthcare that are just plain expensive, e.g ambulances in our community. (The same could be said of emergency rooms.). In other areas, our system puts the burden of training costs on people who won't see a return for at least a decade, and maybe more like two decades. This skews the costs. Separately we could talk about lifestyle choices leading to chronic diseases like diabetes and heart disease, but that is a whole 'nother story. All of it makes the whole problem so complex that there is not easy solution. And because the best solution - a more mustachian lifestyle with more walking and biking, fewer cars, less stuff, better end of life planning, and less need for health care - doesn't make more money for many of the vested interests, a real solution is very unlikely.
None of that helps your situation, so all I can say is that I am sorry to hear bout your $900 consult.