Insurance companies are only one small part of the problem. The exorbitant cost of US healthcare is a combination of a multitude of things.
- Tons of bureaucracy, much of it redundant multiple times over. (IE: Instead of there being one overarching system, every individual hospital system is doing their own thing.)
- Pretty much everyone working at all levels of the healthcare industry expect to be paid well in the US...
- People in the US have, a lot of the time, come to expect a much higher level of care so to speak; that costs more money... For example, where in many other countries you might go into a hospital and wait around a little while and eventually get a bed in a big ward with dozens of other beds separated by sliding curtains, in many US hospitals, you will go in and wait far less (if at all, depending on location) and get a bed in a private room.
- Insurance companies are small part of the problem, but their profit margins, however small, are still a markup.
- Drugs prices are another issue, but once again, just part of the problem.
- Another big problem is people delaying treatment due to cost. As in having a problem for months, but never going to a doctor about it because they don't want to spend a lot of money on the visit/tests, then months later the problem is much worse, forcing them to go to a doctor because they can't stand it any longer and requiring far more extensive intervention than if they had gone earlier.
- Our healthcare services are used more... Our people are fatter and unhealthier than many other countries, we have more violent crime (relative to Europe), we are significantly larger geographically so far more driving and thus far more car accidents, etc... Every little thing is just more spending.