In the US, it's arguable that medicine barely existed in 1900, so I think you make a good point. The thing is, we aren't even doing the simple thing of making

In the US, it's arguable that medicine barely existed in 1900, so I think you make a good point. The thing is, we aren't even doing the simple thing of making sure that the medical care that is delivered is done so somewhere close to the best possible cost. We heavily regulate supply and then pretend that we have a market. Or like we have laws like EMTALA, which requires stabilizing care, which is expensive, that leads to hospital systems making walk in clinics that aren't subject to the law, and then encouraging their patients to figure what level of treatment the need. Like my PCP has little placards in their rooms explaining the difference. There's no law that the ER can't triage down to a lower level of care, but it would cost them revenue. It's fucked.