The reason healthcare costs so much in the US is insurance. When insurance pays for everything patients don't care how much the medical providers are charging,

The reason healthcare costs so much in the US is insurance. When insurance pays for everything patients don't care how much the medical providers are charging, and patients don't care if medical providers are providing unnecessary services. When somebody else (i.e., insurance) is paying, the individual consumer is encouraged to consume without any restraint. When all consumers behave this way, providers are able to charge high prices, which in turn causes insurance premiums to go up. (Look up "tragedy of the commmons"). The solution is to make the consumer participate in driving costs down. One employer I know of has an excellent solution to the problem: Make employees pay 100% of the bill up to a certain amount, such as $6000. That's a large amount, but the employer then contributes a large amount to your Health Savings Account (HSA), such as $4000. This amount is for you to keep regardless of whether you have any health bills or not. (This money can be used for medical expenses only, either in the current year or in the future). This means the max you will spend out of pocket per year is $2000. How does this encourage the consumer to scrutinize medical spending? Because the first $6000 of medical spending in a year is "your money". This is money you'd be able to keep in your HSA if you didn't have any medical expenses. This gives the consumer a strong incentive to reduce costs, question charges, avoid unnecessary services, and so on.