adjl posted...
Prices are inflated because insurance companies typically negotiate them down by a lot
Almost certainly that.
Bill $100, but only get paid $33, you're billing $300 next time.
However, if you follow inflating costs backwards, the three biggest instigators are the inability to divert emergency care, a drastic increase in malpractice lawsuits (and thus a drastic increase in malpractice insurance costs) in the 90s, and then a string of high-profile lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies soon after (and ongoing).
Tort reform would clear a bunch of this shit up, immediately.