The capitalist way to participate in a market is to put money into a system expecting to get that money plus some additional money out.
That additional amount must come from somewhere. Typically from wage labor, but in medicine that money can also be effectively removed from the patient.
The American system enables the wealthy to effectively take money from the sick and their caregivers alike. And the more they take, the more they can invest in the system. It's a positive feedback loop.
In any just system, the sick and the workers would be realizing those benefits.
The problem with a pure "free market" approach to healthcare is that the market does not function for the benefits of all because healthcare is inherently imbalanced in terms of relative power between consumers and producers.
For example, how much is someone willing to pay to receive cancer treatment? This is a relatively urgent life and death situation so the answer is obviously likely to be "any price". As such, treatment costs are expected to go through the roof.
I agree with you 100%. The problem truly lies not where what someone "is willing" (which of course is almost anything) but where what some "actually can" pay to receive treatment. It's a terrible distinction between the two.
That additional amount must come from somewhere. Typically from wage labor, but in medicine that money can also be effectively removed from the patient.
The American system enables the wealthy to effectively take money from the sick and their caregivers alike. And the more they take, the more they can invest in the system. It's a positive feedback loop.
In any just system, the sick and the workers would be realizing those benefits.