Comment by rsync
"Healthcare shouldn't be a market. That's why you're paying $40k."
I see your drill down to fundamental issues and I raise you:
Pregnancy is not a sickness. Hospitals are for sick people.
If we reserved hospital birth for women and children with actual medical problems we would allocate resources much more judiciously.
An added benefit: not exposing otherwise healthy (and capable) women to an almost universally disempowering and disenfranchising birth-industrial-complex that seems designed to engender fear, self-doubt and pathological outcomes.
Pregnancy can turn bad (10% of first-time pregnancy, might be higher in country with high obesity rates). In that case, the faster you are with the anaesthetic and the C-section, the better. Also, hygiene. Also, ombilical cords around the newborn necks. Also, the maternities in my country are great (the one we have left at least).