[iconreforged]

Here's something outrageous that a reader might have missed: An MRI doesn't have to be $6000. The marginal cost of one more MRI is pretty low (they go for under $200 in Japan, and people get them way more frequently), but the price tag quoted to insurance companies is inflated, so that the insurance companies can bargain the hospitals back down. Only the uninsured end up paying a needlessly large sticker price for things like MRIs.