This is what regulatory capture does. It may be so-called "private" but the government still wants to regulate it up the wazoo, in all the wrong ways. This prevents new businesses from making things better.

> a single payer system makes way more sense.

If the single payer is the very same government then it becomes incentivized to bring the regulation in line to something more sensible. Of course, if the single payer is a separate entity that won't necessarily happen. For example: Amish communities in the US often administer a single payer system, but they haven't been able to fix the situation.

I don't think regulatory capture is an argument for getting the government out of this business, I think it's an argument for getting the business out of this business.

There are many problems with the US healthcare system, not the least of which is the fact that we have something like 18 different ones.

Yes, this is the same reason it takes 7 weeks and two referrals to have my car serviced, or my floors cleaned. Private industry is terrible at these things.

I get that they are maximizing profits. But why does the process have to be so clunky and complex? When I fly somewhere, I buy a ticket with the expectation of getting to my destination without much fuzz. My bags also usually get there without problem.

Translating the health care experience to flying, nobody could tell me how much the flight costs. After the flight I would get invoices from various baggage handlers which the airline would pay for or maybe not based on unknowable criteria. The copilot may be out of network so I would have to pay extra. The pilot may demand upfront payment. And so on.

My point is: Why can't this super expensive system not at least be a smooth experience? Like, you go to a doctor, they enter some data into a website and tell you how much it will cost. This shouldn't be hard to do.