Indeed, DtG. Context is all, and in this case includes wage inflation, and the inflationary effects of health insurance in the USA on the price of medicines this side of the puddle. Re the latter, we've seen an exactly similar problem here with vets' bills: if the insurance company pays at the point of use, expensive treatments become financially viable for the vet to offer, and they get into the habit of charging through the nose for everything.

Methinks I've commented before about the difference between efficiency and effectiveness, but (from another context): "Programs which are designed to be efficient are hell for those who have to provide the input or use the output."