that's a good point. I guess healthcare has a uniquely complex interplay between insurance payout and actual billed cost (eg, your car insurance does not negotiate with the mechanic for you).

I'll rephrase my statement. medical insurance/billing is too complicated to reasonably expect a doctor or patient to fully understand. this being the case, there should be someone working at the hospital/practice whose job it is to actually understand this shit and give me an estimate at each step of the process. doesn't really fix the underlying problem, but at least then I could make an educated choice between receiving care and being able to afford retirement.