I'll not argue that point either - what's the point in having "the best medical care that money can buy" if no-one has the money to pay for it?
The solution? Somewhere in between. Socialising healthcare isn't the answer - that's just taking the HMO and making it much larger. However, the "single-payer" idea has merit in that you will have more negotiating power.
OTOH, you have more fingers!:looney: Seriously, the flipside is that, since medical training costs so damned much, the doctors have to make a living wage while paying off student loans and still being able to cover office expenses and continuing education (which smarts!)
However, insurance companies are largely to blame as well. They keep underpaying what the doctor bills, so the doctor starts overbilling to try to get a more useful amount out of the insurance company. This makes the insurance company stingier, and makes the doctor bill higher, which ... You get the idea.
And, throw in the new wave in "direct to consumer" pharmaceutical advertisements, which has resulted in a wave of hypochondria hitting the American people. The commercial tells them they have X problem, so they need this pill to address it (they often do not, I'm sure.) If their doctor doesn't give them the pill, they'll go find someone who will - so the doctor ends up prescribing it, if he can't find any valid contraindications.
This hypochondria extends to testing as well - with the advent of CT scans, MRIs and other non-invasive testing, people want the tests to make sure they do/don't suffer from whatever they think they do/don't suffer from. This costs the insurance companies money, driving up the costs.
I feel fortunate in having learned a great deal about the field of medicine (no-where near everything, certainly. I'm lacking in biochemistry, but I'm a decent trauma medic, and I've got a solid working knowledge of: general medicine, pulmonology, nephrology, cardiology, neurology, opthalmology, and audiology - as well as infectious organisms) that I feel I can either make informed decisions on my own, or give the doctors enough useful information that they can make a more informed decision (when I go see the MD, they're seeing a snapshot of me. I'm with me all the time.) I can explain why I feel a test is needed - and listen to their opinion on the matter - and the reverse is also true. Informed patients (and not informed by commercials! Hell, I hardly even watch TV...) can save insurance companies money.
There is no simple answer. Socialising medicine won't work - if it did, do you think Canadians would come down here for ops? All these fractious insurance companies are obviously not the answer - look at what it's done already. Some economic regulation of the field is needed, certainly, but what sort? That, dear friends, is the mystery...