Emergency rooms at for-profit hospitals are notorious price-gougers, where an ice-pack and a bandage can cost $5,000, and where no one will tell you how much your care is costing until months after the fact.
In a funny, serious, link-studded satirical essay on McSweeney's (Welcome to Our Modern Hospital Where If You Want to Know a Price You Can Go Fuck Yourself), Alex Baia makes explicit the submerged subtext of these sleazy, crooked tactics: "Well, you can't do much about that now. Except of course to go fuck yourself. Yes, ma'am, as a matter of fact, we do have a special room where you can go fuck yourself. Yes, it does cost money to use the room, and no I cannot tell you how much. Want a hint? It's between $1 and $35,000 per minute. Will you be reserving the go fuck yourself room?"
Read the restHonestly, there's no telling what you'll pay today. Maybe $700. Maybe $70,000. It's a fun surprise! Maybe you'll go to the ER for five minutes, get no treatment, then we'll charge you $5,000 for an ice pack and a bandage. Then your insurance company will be like, "This is nuts. We're not paying this." Who knows how hard you'll get screwed? You will, in three months.
Fun story: This one time we charged two parents $18,000 for some baby formula. LOL! We pull that shit all the time. Don't like it? Don't bring a baby, asshole.
Oh, I get it: you're used to knowing a clear price for products and services.
