The health care system in the US is a TOTAL market failure.
The dirty little secret in the US is that workers pay MOST of all the costs for their own health care. This is done through out-pocket payments, contributions to premiums, moving compensation $$$$ from wages to benefits, as well as state/federal/payroll taxes for Medicare, etc.
Employers, insurers, unions, and providers don't serve the best interests of employees. Insurance companies price gauge by leveraging purchasing power to extract discounts from health care providers to reduce benefits. The very large providers will utilize their market position to increase prices without a consideration to costs or quality. We then have employers leverage in the labor market where employees have less employment options. They can get away with getting increased deductibles and out-of-pocket payments from their employees. And unions resist as much as they can, given they've basically been decimated.
If we look at the numbers it's pretty pathetic. Average premium and out-of-pocket expenses are roughly 40% of median household income, and even more if we include the payroll tax. Our total health care outcomes for the US population are moving at a very slow rate, yet premiums keep increasing year after year. This transfer of our wages to total health care isn't providing any type of improved value for our money.
Exactly. Which is why it's such a damnable travesty that we've allowed Congress to lock us into a failed system.