Why are hospitals so expensive?

Complicated problem: Just like the rest of us hospitals have expenses like electricity, heat and water. On top of that they have costs for medical supplies, medications, insurance, office supplies and staff salaries to name a few. Let's face it, running a large, high quality medical facility is expensive.

Three main reasons: 1. American health care system is far from perfect. 2. The costs of hospital operations are very high by regulatory requirements (federal, state and local). 3. The shift of cost, hospitals charge smaller payers more in order to make up for uncompensated costs from the uninsured and reduced fees by larger payers.