[Bobcat]

Ronbo ....spend 20+ years living off the Govt. tab and rack up half a mil for hip/knee replacements ??? Don`t know what they charge in your area, but from first hand experience ( two hips replaced ) , it was in the $50,000 to $60,000 range for both . Knees are about the same according to my Doctor ... and this was up in Mass . From my experience , you are way off base on that cost . Also , according to my Doctor , the replacements come from a bunch of factors : overweight people put a huge strain on the joints , sports do the same .... and genetics also figure in .
As far as living off the Govt tab .... sorry , my private insurance paid for all of it . If the Govt. would give me all the money back ( with interest ) that I paid over my working life for Medicare Ins etc . , I would gladly tell them to buzz off and take care of myself .
As for your statement about charges the evil hospitals whack the insurance companies with ... there isn`t enough space to get into that . Again , first hand experience as I`m friends with some Doctors and my oldest has been in that field most of her life . Every test in the book ??? It`s called CYA medicine because of suit happy patients etc . She is going through that now on a lawsuit that will be thrown out of court , but the Doctor still has to spend money to defend himself .