1. I don't think anyone would complain about health care if it was handled well by insurance companies. However, health care, by and large, is suboptimal in thi

1. I don't think anyone would complain about health care if it was handled well by insurance companies. However, health care, by and large, is suboptimal in this country. http://ucatlas.ucsc.edu/spend.php http://ucatlas.ucsc.edu/spend.php shows the price to outcome outlier that we are. 2. We need to look at profits in the health care industry as similar to a VAT. If you have a profit margin at the end of the line, even if it's 18%, it's not that big of a deal. However, if each segment along the line adds a VAT, even a 5% tax of every segment can add up to a third of the cost, depending on how deep the pipeline goes. Each segment of the line is taking a profit. 3% of the health care industry, x% of the hospital (less than you would think because they subsidize so much of the uninsured) y% from the pharmaceutical industry, z% from the individually owned clinic... The end result is a disproportionately expensive system in this country.