[kyouens]

In my view, one of the reasons for runaway healthcare cost may the way that insurance coverage distances the patient / consumer from the true costs involved. (e.g. "My statin costs $5 a month because that's how much my co-pay is." No.)

Insurance is necessary and useful for catastrophic events like the OP's. By contrast, for routine, predictable health care expenditures, insurance spreads the cost among policyholders / taxpayers to the extent that there is no conception of the actual cost of care. It's like having insurance to put gas in your car, or to pay your utility bill. Every time the money changes hands, you can bet the insurance company takes it's share.

This model will allow (or even cause) drug companies and hospitals to keep costs high to protect reimbursements, all via back-room deals with huge insurance companies. Expensive, government-mandated (or provided) insurance coverage for routine health expenditures will get in between doctors and patients and will drain employers and taxpayers while the insurance companies get richer.