Health Insurance is Annoying

I've learned a lot of things recently, but one thing I've learned over the last 6 months is that both health insurance and health care are broken.  My insurance company first declined my claim (after sitting on it for a month) and sent it back to the doctor to be proven medically necessary.  My doctor's office immediately (literally the same day, I checked) sent back a response.  The insurance company sat on the claim for another two months before deciding to approve everything on the claim EXCEPT one thing.  They approved laboratory services, drugs, surgical supplies, the hospital stay, EVERYTHING... except the surgery.  SERIOUSLY?  This of course necessitated a phone call from me.  About 10 minutes later, the helpful customer service representative on the line looked through the documentation (she was impressively informed, helpful, and empowered) and determined that "Whoops.  Our mistake.  It looks like it should have been approved.  We'll take care of that for you."  Which will, undoubtedly, take another couple of months.  In what way is this cost efficient?  And, as an aside, this is all after the insurance company negotiated the bill down to 15% of the hospital's original cost.  How much does health care cost, anyway, and who actually knows what those costs are?  (By the way, the ambulance company billed $51 for the use of their glucometer.  You can buy your very own for like $20.)