Where would you suggest that teaching hospitals find more funding? Most of them are non-profits, or operate as part of state or local government agencies. They have no ability to negotiate higher rates with Medicare/Medicaid and only limited ability to negotiate higher rates with private payers (typically set as a multiplier to the Medicare rate). Voters generally haven't been willing to raise taxes. There is probably some waste that could be trimmed but it's tough to figure out where to cut without impacting patient care quality. Much of the administrative overhead is forced upon them by unfunded government mandates around reporting, quality, security, credentialing, and interoperability.

Private donors are always welcome. If you have a few million to spare then you can personally fund a residency program expansion at your favorite teaching hospital.

I won't attempt to defend ridiculous charges for certain basic medical services. Hospital accounting is a funny business, and almost entirely artificial. The teaching hospitals tend to deliver a lot of charity care (including writing off a lot of bad medical debt) and some Medicare/Medicaid reimbursements don't even cover their costs. So, they attempt to close the gaps by jacking up other prices as high as they can.

You should accept a lower standard of care because as a society we have limited resources and can't afford to waste them. If you have a boo boo then a NP can clean the wound and apply a bandage. That's what happened to me when I crashed my bike last year and it was fine. Physician time should be reserved for more complex cases.

Are you talking about the same hospitals that tripled the administrators to doctors ratio in the last 50 years (don’t remember exact numbers)? Is that why we need to accept a lower standard of care?

P.S. wait, you went to a hospital to apply a bandaid after you fell off your bike? Are you serious? Perhaps that’s the real problem…