The inefficiencies of the health care system are only tangential to whether it is paid by employer-subsidized insurance, medicare, the VA, the NHS, or by manna

The inefficiencies of the health care system are only tangential to whether it is paid by employer-subsidized insurance, medicare, the VA, the NHS, or by manna from heaven. The biggest problem is the sheer bureaucracy of the thing. Fortunately, some gains appear to be occurring to side-step the entrenched hospital provider networks. A huge number of urgent care centers have begun springing up, at least in this area, which are perfect for everyday healthcare needs. I can walk in with no appointment, pay the $25 co-pay, and see a doctor about bronchitis or poison ivy or get stitches for a minor wound or an x-ray without waiting an absurd amount of time in an overburdened emergency room, or waiting a week for my primary-care to have an open appointment. For the most part, if you tell them what is wrong, they will do what you ask. It's more like going to get your car fixed, or taking your dog to the vet. Then again, I'm not on a whole battery of prescription drugs, which seems to be increasingly unusual, so I don't have to deal with the hassle of going back regularly to get chronic prescriptions re-issued.