We paid $2,200 for an ER visit that considered off two stitches in my son's finger and a few xray's after he was bitten by a rabbit. So bad.
Neat. I paid about $20 for a few stitches after I was all boozed up in Thailand and slashed my finger on a piece of beach glass. And this was at like 11:00 at night too. Lots of clinics everywhere to deal with drugged up tourists who think muddy island roads and poorly maintained motorbikes is the perfect way to learn how to ride.
The reason is simple. For the vast majority of people in the US, they are wholly disconnected from the true price of medicine, so there is really no incentive to keep prices low, because there are no checks. Just like I was a hell of a lot more liberal with my flight decisions when work is paying vs my own vacation.
If anything most people frequenting high end medical services have a long term interest in these high prices, as they most likely own all sorts of these health and drug companies indirectly via retirement funds. Then you have a bit of a cartel effect too, as the numbers of doctors are regulated and if everyone else is charging this, why wouldn't you? Why were eyeglasses up until recently just "accepted" to cost $300 for what amounts to 50 cents of plastic remolded?
The only people who do see the real costs are people without insurance, and taken as a whole, they're pretty much the poorest strata of society, so no one gives a shit about them. In short, it's a very roundabout way of transferring money from the public to the top.
How much should a few stitches cost? What's a "fair" price? 10 minutes of time for someone at a nurse skill level, a bit of alcohol, and a bit of filament? For a procedure that can be literally done on a street corner? How is it a Thai clinic can make money doing the same procedure at literally 1% of the cost? It's because insurance is much rarer there, and no one would go if it cost what it did in the US. It's more of a true market since the people consuming the service actually feel the cost.
As soon as true costs borne by the consumer are disconnected from them, the price is free to run amok. Look at education or housing as other classic examples. While the cost is eventually borne by the consumer (via loans), is well deferred and structured into payments, so you don't feel the sting as sharply. As a consequence, you saw increases in tuition and housing that would never happen if people had to save and pay for things like they did before.
Getting slightly off topic, but I find it fascinating from a behavior economics point of view what happens. Homes, education, and health care are all important, but expensive, so various programs pop up to help out. (CHMC/US equivalent, student loan programs, health insurance) -> As these kick in, it becomes more accessible, demand increases, and prices rise -> Now, prices for everything has skyrocketed, everything is just as inaccessible as before, but home builders/early owners, universities, and insurance companies/hospitals are all making out like bandits.
But you wouldn't believe it listening to them. Because their non-mustachian ideals dictate that if home prices/tuition/premiums double every 5 years, then they need to spend this influx of cash on *anything* lest they show a budgetary surplus and get their piece of the pie cut next year.
....And this just carries on until it can't