About 25 years ago a hospital billed us $35 for a single non-medicated cough drop. It was nothing more than a piece of penny candy. Today Im sure that cough drop would cost at least $200.
I needed an MRI a few months ago, I was referred to one of the Local Hospitals, to use the Wide Bore Machine was going to cost me $948 out of pocket. I called a local imaging center, and to use their Open MRI was $450.00. When I asked why the difference, all the manager at the Imaging center could say is that they were independent from most of the costs hospitals incur because of all of the governmental regs.