6k for a funeral is still a lot especially considering many dads are the main providers for their families. and rarely are people in a decent state of mind to make big financial decisions after the death of a loved one, but it’s a necessary one...
Even cremation can cost almost a thousand dollars or more- without any ceremony. But- here’s a counter thought: The US custom average is burial. The US majority religion is some type of Christianity. There is NO part of the scripture that dictates burial- and even for those believing in the resurrection it is spelled out that your zombie body doesn’t come back to life. So- there is no religious mandate requiring burial for the majority of Americans- yet funeral and burial are popular options.
People do not have to, and are not compelled by practical or religious reasons to spend all this money disposing of a corpse. Of course- what was that person worth to you? Most people will perhaps ask this. “They deserves this. They deserved a burial and-the nice casket and flowers etc...” But... if a corpse is worth $6-10k... how much is the living person worth? If you were standing over the body of your most beloved person in life, and a magical being offered a deal to buy back their life, what would you pay?
Would you trade your car, your house, $120,000, what WOULDN’T you trade to have a loved one back from the dead? So- when we look at it that way: So many are willing to pay thousands to remember the dead. So many would pay anything for one more moment with a dead loved one- but a doctors bill to save their life is too much? That does somewhat seem odd. On principal- how much is your life worth to you?
If you buy a car for $20k and are happy- (obviously you were fine with the price for what you got, otherwise why would you have paid?)- but then find out your buddy got the same car for $5k less- suddenly you are unhappy. Why? 10 minutes ago you were happy. Nothing changed for you. What HE paid doesn’t effect you. But you’re unhappy because you feel now it was a bad deal right? So somewhere else in the world someone pays less for medical care. What does that have to do with you? Does what someone else pays change what you feel your life is worth? Most people would give up all the money they have to keep their lives. How does the value of one persons life change the value of yours?
“But they COULD make it cheaper. In much of Europe people don’t have medical bills like that.” And do people in these countries have no complaints in life? Of course they do. They have complaints we don’t- because every positive has negatives. The more personal freedom you give- the more potential dangers and personal responsibility you create. The more democratic a system, the more time and effort it takes to do any single thing. Pros and cons. You can’t simply change a single thing you don’t like without effecting other things you do like. If Such governments were so perfect- why wouldn’t everyone who could leave a country with such expensive medical bills and go to one without?
Does it matter if you’re $100k in debt for a surgery, or $100k in debt for moving to another country because you’ll never have to worry about your family paying medical bills again? Yet- we continue to pay. That’s the kicker. That’s a product of free market capitalism. As long as people are willing to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to not die- why wouldn’t you charge that? If you aren’t enforcing ethics- then capitalism isn’t guided by ethics, it’s guided by profit. In such an environment ethics is a handicap as they prevent one from maximizing returns.
You can regulate industry and impose ethics through law- but now you are compromising freedoms. How can we say that medical providers must follow certain ethics in profit margin because it is a vital service and not apply those same laws to things like food providers or even the rental of property? By the time we finish setting regulations on vital goods and services we have vastly transformed the economy, social structure, and personal lives of billions. We’ve made a law saying “you know this business or education you spent years and all this money on? You know the lifestyle you’ve grown? It’s illegal now. You can never have that unless you throw away all you’ve worked for and start over.”
We also would then have what is essentially state controlled industry. Power, medical, real estate, food, vital services- all controlled by the state. That also means in a democracy all of this is now subject to additional layers of red tape. Decision by committee. Rigid rules and regulations and inspections that prevent adjustment to suit individual cases or circumstances or demographics. You must fit within the parameters and only what is established can be.
It gets incredibly complex. Our healthcare system is certain flawed and needs reform- but as an interesting thought- just chew on why people tend to view the astronomical expense of throwing away a corpse as a duty owed to a dead person, but tend to treat the high cost of saving a human life as a slap in the face. It’s just sorta interesting is all.
TLDR: Things are expensive; there's positives and negatives.