After making about 30 single-song purchases on iTunes last night (Don’t judge; I’m in desperate need of new running songs!), I thought about the joy and pain of everything sold separately. I love that songs are sold individually because I rarely absolutely love more than two songs on an album. Then again, I really dislike buying toys for my kids that have an entire collection of accessories and other “stuff” sold separately. That’s just about every toy in existence, I know.

Of course my mind automatically drifted to nursing, which is “included” in the cost of an inpatient stay or office visit while nearly everything else, down to the gauze packets and individual medications are itemized separately. There are certainly pros and cons to that strategy, as well. Or is it a strategy?