“Have you noticed that most doctors and most hospitals will never tell you how much something is going to cost in advance?”
Yeah, I noticed that when I had an abdominal aortic aneurysm, and no insurance. $100K one time, $300K the next time I asked. Finally got insurance and took care of it (when it was 6.5 cm!!!) The actual (highly qualified) surgeon was cheap, considering. Saw a lot of high charges by the anesthesiologists that got slapped down. Never did figure out what it cost the insurance company. Too much confusion.
I had some surgery a couple years ago. The hospital bill was $24000. The insurance company "negotiated" it down to $8000 of which I had to pay $2000. I don't know if that included the surgeon and anesthesiologist because they were on the hospital staff and were included in that bill or if they just got in after the hospital hit my out of pocket maximum and I never got their bills.
It has never made sense that hospitals charge triple what they expect to really get from most patients. It would be like having the typical new car costing $75k unless you are a member of a buyers' club that negotiates it down to $25k.