**medical costs are INHERENTLY EXPENSIVE. There's NO WAY a society can afford to provide needed and wanted services to everyone.**
This is true and this is what people like to complain about with the "I can go to the discount store and get a huge bottle of aspirin for $5, why does the hospital charge that much?" question. BECAUSE the hospital has to pay for heating and cooling and replacement parts on all the equipment, laundry, the janitor and supplies, the water bill, and a host of little 'insignificant' items which keep a hospital functioning. No one thinks about that when they go to the hospital. All that paperwork isn't 'free' for the taking.
WHILE we're talking about infections, let me add a tidbit I just learned: it takes 20 seconds of hand washing with soap to remove the germs. Water should be either tepid or can be cool. The key is making sure you're scrubbing your hands with the soap for 20 seconds. I'm told that singing 'happy birthday' though twice is 20 seconds (YMMV). One thing I have noticed is that 'flavored' soaps release their perfume at about 20 seconds.
If everyone saw this as clearly as you we'd be able to solve many of our problems.
sigh...