She works for the State and undoubtedly has insurance. She is probably looking at the face rate of her medical charges rather than the negotiated rates. The question is how much did the insurance company pay. These vary enormously.
More generally the story illustrates the issue of monopoly pricing by virtue of the context within which the service is bought. It does not have to be that way but few of us take the time or even think to ask how much a specialist charges for an office visit and what a typical set of diagnostics is likely to cost. If you do not know the price how can you negotiate or decide you need to look for another specialist.
incos don’t like to tell what they pay because the competition can start to under price them.