"in the States, you have to pay for your health like for any groceries."
In the US there is no functioning price mechanism. So, it it is quite unlike a trip to the super-marche. Your money disappears down a rabbit hole (insurance) for which there is very little practical choice; and the rest of it is like a giant "dark pattern" puzzle where all kinds games are played to milk out the most money. That is not to say introducing "market pricing" is the correct answer, in a naive sense, this is not correct. Because markets don't function with opportunistic negotions under duress and asymmetric information (ie, typical medical situations). So, the problems with healthcare are precisely this: money changes hands but it is part of a system that is neither here nor there. As such, its just a corrupt opaque and insider-exploited bit of social engineering. Of courese, that likely describes many of the alternatives. (Hence, tough choices and an unwillingness to do anything other than something well thought out and pragmatice.) At least EU countries have evolved a unique ecosystem over time that has developed it own internal logic. The US is a frakenstein system, and the more money we spend trying to "rationalize it" (buzzword of the 1990's?), the worse it gets...MBA type's and the hippocratic oath don't really mix.
In the US there is no functioning price mechanism. So, it it is quite unlike a trip to the super-marche. Your money disappears down a rabbit hole (insurance) for which there is very little practical choice; and the rest of it is like a giant "dark pattern" puzzle where all kinds games are played to milk out the most money. That is not to say introducing "market pricing" is the correct answer, in a naive sense, this is not correct. Because markets don't function with opportunistic negotions under duress and asymmetric information (ie, typical medical situations). So, the problems with healthcare are precisely this: money changes hands but it is part of a system that is neither here nor there. As such, its just a corrupt opaque and insider-exploited bit of social engineering. Of courese, that likely describes many of the alternatives. (Hence, tough choices and an unwillingness to do anything other than something well thought out and pragmatice.) At least EU countries have evolved a unique ecosystem over time that has developed it own internal logic. The US is a frakenstein system, and the more money we spend trying to "rationalize it" (buzzword of the 1990's?), the worse it gets...MBA type's and the hippocratic oath don't really mix.