“If someone is going to require me to pay their medical bills while they’re alive, I see no reason not to ask for repayment from their assets after they pass on.”
Because the government is involved the price is inordinately inflated. In a recent example a private doctor charged $10 for a blood test to a cash patient. The same test done by a different office and charged to Medicare was $78. Not only will the service be slow and substandard, but it will be overly costly too.
The two forms of medicine that are forever decreasing in cost and increasing in quality are cosmetic surgery and Lasik surgery. Those are not reimbursed by any third party payer so the market is in force.
What did Medicare actually PAY for that claim?
On mine, they typically are similar to what you quoted.