Regarding the cost, I honestly never calculated an exact cost, because it’s impossible. Originally, when I asked this question, I was under the naive impression that a cost is a cost is a cost. But then I learned the dirty not-so-secret of the health care industry, which is that there’s no single price for anything. There’s the amount the service provider says the service costs, there’s the amount they actually bill the insurance company, there’s the amount the insurance company actually pays, and there’s the amount they would have charged you if you were paying in cash instead of using an insurance company. Once I learned how variable prices are, I just gave up trying to compute the sum. I think my insurance and I were billed about $70k, and I think we actually paid about $40k.

I think the pendulum is beginning to swing, with attempts to do away with corporate personhood and the youth movements to revitalize democracy and the US Social Forum. But like all such efforts, they take a long time.