The problem is that health care in America is wasteful and expensive. Insurance hides the true cost, but so does mandatory emergency care.
To get a true picture of how out-of-kilter American health care is, you have only to look at the major medical care corporations and their focus on customer satisfaction.
The difference between hospitals and other businesses is that hospitals have a certain percentage of customers who do not pay. But the non-payers get the same level of customer care. In other businesses, those who don't pay get edged out of customer care and usually cut off completely. Hospitals continue to serve them.
What is more. Many of those customers who come into the emergency rooms of hospitals should be going to their regular doctor for minor aches and pains. But many just go to the emergency room, which is much more expensive -- but not to them.
For those with no insurance, emergency rooms are their only option, because hospitals can't turn them away, but doctors' offices can.
Another indication of how out of whack this situation is: We complain about the rise in the cost of insurance, not the rise in the cost of health care. We are attempting to do something about the rise in the cost of insurance and the availability of insurance, while doing almost nothing about the rise in the cost and availability of health care.