How screwed up is health insurance/health care?

There are things government does well and things government does poorly; there are things the ‘free’ market does well and things the ‘free’ market does poorly – and healthcare (access to affordable healthcare for all) is something the ‘free’ market does poorly.

Blind adherence to binary dogma is idiocy – the best approach is a pragmatic approach.
 
Seriously, you don't see anything creepy, or ripe for abuse, in government supplying citizens with their "meds"?
Medicare's done a great job of "supplying" seniors with healthcare for many years now. Far better than any of the privately managed crap. Medicare just pays for the stuff. It distributes nothing else. No idea what you're talking about nor afraid of.
 
I just got back from the pharmacist - picked up a prescription for some skin cream to treat psoriasis. When I balked at the price ($40.00), the pharmacist informed me that it was actually much more expensive than that. The $40.00 was just my copay. They tube of cream (maybe two months worth) actually cost $389. She acted like I should feel fortunate that I was getting an awesome high-dollar medicine for "only" 40 dollars. I was furious. Nevermind that I have to get permission from a long list of middlemen (the government, my doctor, my insurance company) just to buy some fucking skin cream. But some rent-seeking pharmaceutical company is playing the regulation game to make insane profits.

In an actual free market, of course, no one would pay $400 for a tube of skin cream. And no insurance company would cover such an expense. And prices for that shit would come down.

Thanks Obama!
Healthcare and health insurance are ‘screwed up’ because we’re victims of our own success.

50 years ago one could afford to pay out-of-pocket for a doctor’s visit; one could afford to pay for health insurance.

In those days health insurance was like homeowner’s insurance or car insurance: something one would likely never use; it was insurance.

Then came advancements in medical technology, science, and treatments – there was a surgery for everything, therapy for everything, and a pill for everything.

And we live longer but in poor chronic health.

With all these advancements came higher costs, bigger profits, and millions of Americans unable to afford access to healthcare.

Health ‘insurance’ became health ‘maintenance’ – most Americans cannot afford to pay out-of-pocket for a doctor’s visit; health ‘insurance’ became something most Americans need to see a doctor, get an x-ray, CT scan, blood tests, out-patient treatment, and the half-dozen or so pills Americans take each day.

Big Pharma and the medical industry are anti-‘free’ market, immune from its anachronistic, feckless ‘regulatory’ regime.
 
Health ‘insurance’ became health ‘maintenance’

It didn't just "become" that - it was regulated into that with ill-conceived policy. For fifty years we've been trying to turn private insurance into a social welfare program. And the insurance industry has been more than happy to oblige because getting in bed with government means guaranteed profits.

– most Americans cannot afford to pay out-of-pocket for a doctor’s visit; health ‘insurance’ became something most Americans need to see a doctor, get an x-ray, CT scan, blood tests, out-patient treatment, and the half-dozen or so pills Americans take each day.

We can't afford to pay out-of-pocket because prices have been driven through the roof by too much insurance and too much bone-headed regulation.

Big Pharma and the medical industry are anti-‘free’ market, immune from its anachronistic, feckless ‘regulatory’ regime.

They feed on the regulatory regime. It's how they avoid the market.
 
How about anti-trust "regulation"? Militia "regulation"? Small engine flywheel fan "governing"? Any Reaganesque reaction to offer those?

How about "too big"? You don't suppose we can't afford to pay out-of-pocket because prices have been driven through the roof by too big insurance inevitably leading to much more public/private corruption?
 
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