The other day, I wrote a little bit about health care, bread and butter, and toilets. What I mean is, I was talking about national expectations: In the U.S., you would never expect to pay for bread and butter (in a restaurant), and you would never expect to pay to go to the toilet. In other places, you have to pay for both.
What does this have to do with health care? Well, we are conditioned not to pay for our health care (in too direct and obvious a way). And it is very hard to shift national and ingrained expectations.
Anyway, I have another one for you — another example of pay vs. not-pay: Here at the Salzburg Festival, you pay for your printed program, in the concert halls and opera houses. (I mean, I don’t, but what do people like me pay for?) Just another item for our list . . .