The entire medical profession is a scam. There is absolutely no consistency in anything. Hospitals and doctors are just making up numbers as they go along. Shouldn't their be some justification/rationale for how much a procedure costs? Granted, I know hospitals have different expenses, but some of these differences are HUGE!!
A hospital in Livingston, N.J., charged $70,712 on average to implant a pacemaker, while a hospital in nearby Rahway, N.J., charged $101,945.
In Saint Augustine, Fla., one hospital typically billed nearly $40,000 to remove a gallbladder using minimally invasive surgery, while one in Orange Park, Fla., charged $91,000.
In one hospital in Dallas, the average bill for treating simple pneumonia was $14,610, while another there charged over $38,000.