So what does health care cost?

Scarlet was in the hospital a few weeks ago. Fortunately, she's all better, but we got some paperwork from our health insurance today. The long and short of it: Her one week hospital stay had a retail price of $87,000. But the "network" price was $18,000, and the patient responsibility (that is, what we have to pay) is $0.

So the last of those numbers - the $0 - is fine with me. I can't complain. It is, after all, what health coverage is for. But I'm reminded of my last visit to Safeway where I bought a box of crackers for $1.99 at the "club" price, instead of the "regular" price of $3.99.