> If you ever pay for medical services without insurance you’ll find that places can suddenly give you a straight price.

I have tried many times to get a doctor’s office to give me a price in writing for a completely preventative visit where there could be no possibility of variance in service rendered, and I have always received an answer of no.

Edit: so now I just assume any healthcare I get will cost me up to my out of pocket maximum, and budget for that yearly.

It sounds like the US healthcare system financially incentivizes people to postpone or avoid preventive medical care for as long as humanly possible, worsening the inevitable health crises, thus suppressing population health and wellbeing in favor of corporate profit.

Preventative care is 100% covered at no cost with the ACA changes.