ERD50
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
The reason it costs 400 dollars is because you are in a for profit healthcare system. Everybody's goal is to make money on the transaction.
And the for-profit legal system adds to that.
But the real problem is not so much 'for profit', it is lack of a truly free market. I doubt the OP would feel ripped off if he spent $400 on a TV, and that is a for-profit industry. And everybody's goal is to make money on the transaction, from the miner of the copper and tantalum, to the refiners, to the component makers, to the assemblers, the dealers, and all the shippers and distributors and all the middle-men in between.
-ERD50