X - Pensive Mood....

The other day, I woke up with a bad sprain on my lower back region. Many days later, the pain didn't seem to go away. So, I decide to visit a doctor and get an X-ray done.

But oops - Wrong Country to fall sick !!

Let me explain:
I went to this medical center in Aurora, Illinois armed with a doctor's prescription for an X-ray of the Spine. I casually asked the receptionist, 'what would be the approximate cost?'. He looked up some records, pulled out a piece of paper and wrote 3 digits. Man, maybe he was a psychic or something, my pain almost VANISHED when I saw those magical digits. No kidding. Here's what he wrote :

Lumbar X-ray: $ 973.00 (gulp)

See - no pain now :D :D

But seriously, WHAT THE @$#@# !!! It is JUST about thousand times more expensive than my country! [ yeah, I am quite sure you could get an X-ray done for 50 bucks in India - as we say in Kannada, 'Chillll-rayyy' , compared to this ]

There seems to be something terribly wrong with the healthcare system here. Now I see why there is such a big discussion on healthcare every election. So, the big question - WHY ?

My first thought was on health insurance. If you had had insurance coverage - you would pay around 10% of the total cost (which is still not a small amount), but nevertheless - somewhat 'believeable'. Here's a crazy idea - what if hospitals secretly tie-up with insurance giants to artifically inflate prices so as to get more 'real money' from the patient. That doesn't make sense - I read that there are tens of millions of Americans who don't have insurance at all. So, "$973" is probably the real price of an X-ray in the U.S.

Goodness - if I were owning an insurance company, I would be spending sleepless nights worrying about chapter 11 bankruptcy! Hmm..I suppose I can make up by charging super-high insurance premiums....But most Americans are covered for insurance by their employers, so is the final burden on them ?...

Anyway, I am drifting off. I still don't know why health care is so expensive ?
Some quick googling brings up high administrative costs, malpractice insurance,medical technology/equipment as the main culprits. But these are too generic for me. Somebody find me a good writeup discussing the root-cause of the problem please, dear reader?

P.S: Oh,in case you are still wondering about the pain I had(sweet!), seriously it's gone! and thank God for that!