Ah, the thread has wandered into something that seems to get little discussion, but is crucial: Effective ways to drastically reduce health care costs.
The root problems at hand are government interference in the market, and people's expectation of a high level of care that someone else pays for. Both end up driving up costs. Other factors include a relatively "tight" supply of doctors, "defensive medicine", and essentially no communication to patients /families of costs of services.
Agreed! If we removed ALL legal and policy market distortions and allowed the free market to work we'd be enjoying the best, least expensive health care on the planet.
Simply look at price trends for lasik or cosmetic surgery (uninsured) vs a CTScan (insured) and you'll see the difference.
I believe the transition could be managed and it would the single biggest impact Trump could have on the economy. I think he should free the insurance and provider markets. Watch how fast the market would move to fill the void!
If we don't move that way the system will collapse.