[Perspectives] Putting a price on care

A hospital invoice for a baby's birth in the USA occasionally makes the rounds on social media. For those of us lucky enough to live in the UK with universal health coverage through the National Health Service (NHS), the itemised costings for even a “normal” American delivery seem, frankly, grotesque: the hefty mark-up on a single sanitary pad; dollars for one dose of over-the-counter painkillers; billing for “skin to skin” between mother and baby.