"costs of insurance ... That's the biggest reason why healthcare is so damn expensive in the USA."
I don't know where you heard this but it's big time bogus. The cost of healthcare insurance is a reflection of the cost of actual healthcare, not a different or additional cost. Most insurance dollars go to pay for Drs, drugs, hospital beds, etc; to say that insurance is going up is the same as saying the costs of Drs, drugs, hospitals, etc., are going up, which is in fact the case. Only a fraction of these costs are due to administrative costs, legal malpractice coverage, or lawsuits; most goes toward actual medical services.
America spends between 13 & 15% of its GDP on healthcare (almost 2 trillion per year), that's the highest in the world. So America has the best healthcare, right? In fact we rank 25th out of 29 OECD countries in infant mortality. Out of 23 OECD countries the US ranks 15th for male life expectancy and 16th for females. The bottom line is we spend more than any other country in the world in healthcare costs (which is near synonymous with insurance costs) and yet we end up getting less.
The data I used is sourced by M.D. & PhD in sociology Donald Barr, a practicing physician and academic sociologist, and is widely accepted.
If we spend so much and get so little, where does the money go? To administrative insurance costs, legal or malpractice costs? Nope, the highest portion of the healthcare dollar in the US goes toward heavy investment in extending the life expectancy for 80 year olds, because they have high rates of heart attacks, cancer, and strokes, which are amenable to treatment by expensive high-tech machines and new and expensive drugs. Because America has more healthcare technology, very expensive health care technology, we're the best in the world at resuscitating and prolonging the lives of Americans over 80. That's where the money goes, not to expanded insurance premiums due to law suits, that's a myth. The higher premiums reflect the wider use of technology to save old people, that's why health care costs are about 15% of GDP now days.
And this is why health care costs in America are soaring, and not because of higher insurance premiums; the premiums are higher because the services cost more and help fewer people. Services like prenatal care and regular pediatric checkups are relatively cheap, yet we cut back on those essentials and pour trillions into resuscitating dying old people with cardiovascular failure and cancer. Blame the not so intelligent designer, not lawyers.
