> If everyone paid exactly the same amount as they currently do (in tax + insurance premiums) there should be plenty to fund a first-world-standard national hea

> If everyone paid exactly the same amount as they currently do (in tax + insurance premiums) there should be plenty to fund a first-world-standard national health system. Right. Regardless of whether health care is paid for privately or via taxes, it's obvious that the problem isn't that we're not spending enough money. > It's difficult to know what you can afford when you can't find out even an approximate price until it's over and the bill arrives. I agree that prices and billing should be more transparent. It's crazy that they expect you to agree to pay whatever they might choose to bill, months or years after the fact, without even the courtesy of a binding estimate. I think a good argument could be made that these are not valid contracts and you should be able to walk away from them without penalty; they only get away with this sort of borderline-fraudulent behavior because the law grants health care providers special status. This situation is not improved by changing things so that health care providers don't even need your formal consent, or any interaction at all for that matter, to bill you via the IRS, with no contractual obligation on their part to provide any services whatsoever in return.