I went to lens crafters and saw a frame that i liked. I asked her how much they were. She asked me what my insurance was. I told her for that matter? I just want to know the price. She says she couldn’t give be the prices until she knew my insurance. After a few minutes going back and forth she told me.

The glasses as $800 if you have insurance, but with copay they are about 150-200 out of pocket.

She told me if i paid cash they are $200.

The same thing happens in the medical field.

Nothing says “American” quite like asking how much is this life saving procedure gonna cost before you consider it…

Bonus for how hospitals ask how you are paying before they ask you what’s wrong.

I remember getting a procedure that was covered 100% by my insurance. Which was sort of surprising because the insurance I had was horrible and provided by the hospital I worked at. When I went in they were trying to get me to pay a copay, I kept iterating that I was told by insurance this was covered. They said we’ll just get you prepped and figure it out later.

I never got a bill.

Well see, they do actually have a list that says what everything costs. It’s called the Charge Master List. They just don’t want you to see that list, because they think it puts you at a negotiating disadvantage. It’s the magic invisible hand of the free market, at work to make pricing information available to all in the most efficient manner. (/s)

Modern problems, require modern solutions:

https://archive.org/details/usa-tm-31-210-improvised-munitions-handbook