The way to fix health care in the US is to restore a free market, which does not exist today. The biggest monopoly behind it all is the GSCME - graduate school certification of medical education (probably got that wrong), but they put quotas on the number of doctorseach year. That enforced scarcity leads to regulation on doctors, and they ferociously prevent other professions from curing anyone (chiropractors blackballed and smeared; osteopaths used to be a separate certification and philosophy but essentially suffered a hostile takeover by the AMA; physical therapists, nurse practitioners and other professions limited by law; competent foreign doctors can't practice or even give advice, etc.). That monopoly is so deep it's just taken for granted, and it's then leveraged to make the whole system retarded. Just look at diabetic test strips - the copay under insurance is more than paying cash without insurance in most cases.
The health care system suffers from too much system and too little care - a case of systemitus and carecia if you will - and health loses out. It's a cat's hairball of perverted incentives, and it needs scissors more than untangling. It needs to start over. Ok, rant over.
TLDR- your instincts are absolutely on target, but the system is designed specifically to drown any logical attempts to fix it. It can be done, but not with our corrupt government.
When insurance is mandatory, it is a scam.
Catastrophic insurance is generally a good deal.
The way to fix health care in the US is to restore a free market, which does not exist today. The biggest monopoly behind it all is the GSCME - graduate school certification of medical education (probably got that wrong), but they put quotas on the number of doctorseach year. That enforced scarcity leads to regulation on doctors, and they ferociously prevent other professions from curing anyone (chiropractors blackballed and smeared; osteopaths used to be a separate certification and philosophy but essentially suffered a hostile takeover by the AMA; physical therapists, nurse practitioners and other professions limited by law; competent foreign doctors can't practice or even give advice, etc.). That monopoly is so deep it's just taken for granted, and it's then leveraged to make the whole system retarded. Just look at diabetic test strips - the copay under insurance is more than paying cash without insurance in most cases.
The health care system suffers from too much system and too little care - a case of systemitus and carecia if you will - and health loses out. It's a cat's hairball of perverted incentives, and it needs scissors more than untangling. It needs to start over. Ok, rant over.
TLDR- your instincts are absolutely on target, but the system is designed specifically to drown any logical attempts to fix it. It can be done, but not with our corrupt government.