Healthcare is Sick. Let's fix it!

Imagine walking into a Wal-Mart, having a rough idea of what you want. You talk to a couple people and are told what you need. It fills a shopping cart half-full. You go to the checkout, present a discount card, and are told you owe $20. What a deal! You then look over at someone in the next lane--someone who didn't have a discount card--and just wanted a pack of gum. They paid $33. You leave confused.

Yet this is how healthcare in the US works. We see to a clinic or hospital with a concern, are told what's wrong with us, and the paperwork is filed. The co-pay is decided by a contract most of us will never read and written to a level of education that most people don't attain.

Most people find the current US healthcare system  "broken" (whatever that means) and note (correctly) that the US spends more than other Westernized countries on healthcare (based on GDP), yet doesn't have a longer life expectancy to show for it.

Some point to other countries with a fondness for things not completely understood, much like we look at an attractive man/woman without seeing their flaws. France has been cited as one example, but its costs are climbing. Sweden's health care system is more similar to the US--but is more upfront about payment for noncitizens and more restrictive about care. Finally, Canada's system (now 50 years old)  is made up if 15 different governmental entities, and isn't all-inclusive.

A purely market-based system isn't the cure; people who urgently need care don't have time to shop around. Conversely, a purely government based single-payer system often restricts care due to supply and demand.

Thus, there will need to be some continued government oversight while maintaining significant private infrastructure. Those who can afford to pay must pay their way, while those who can't afford to pay also shouldn't be afforded plastic surgery and other luxuries that only money can buy. We'll need to refine the current system--not start all over, just refine things and be open to new ideas and (here's a novel idea):

Compromise.