"If capitalism were allowed to work in healthcare, it really shouldn’t be very expensive to get the 90% of basic healthcare that provides 99% of the benefit, but that’s a very big ‘if’."

OMG! Health care in the US is absolutely a capitalist industry. Most hospital systems are for profit with as much as 30% of health care premiums going to investors. Moreover, even religious charitable hospital systems are structured to give administrators outlandish salaries at the expense of nurses' and technicians' income. We physicians have been hobbled with preauthorization, (read health care denial), for years, all in service of the annual report. "Don't deliver or at least delay service" is the mantra. I have to get approval for what I deem necessary for my patient from someone with no medical training.

Capitalism is a hopeless model for health care delivery. Why do you think our per capita cost is so high above the rest of the world with worse clinical outcomes?

Don't get me started on big Pharma.

As long as the bottom line is the target, healthcare will always be an afterthought.

fd