I also support taxpayer funded healthcare, but I realize that taking care of each and every old person in nursing homes and keeping them alive as long as possible would consume a disproportionate fraction of the nation's resources, especially in a population with fewer and fewer children.

And the people triaging at insurance companies are doctors and pharmacists themselves. A doctor not employed by insurance companies is also a "businessman", considering they get paid more the more they treat. No one is exempt from conflicts of interest, but since US voters didn't want "death panels", they get to deal with prior authorizations.

It's the same function done by the NHS or government in any other country.