Technology

That may be, but my point is that the current state of healthcare costs in the US isn't "capitalism working as intended," it's a culmination of decades of interference resulting in a perfect storm of bad policy. For example:

• patents keep prices high
• tax deductions for employer sponsored insurance led to crappy employer insurance being standard
• ACA covered up many of the problems for those without insurance, which increased problems for those with employer insurance
• everyone having insurance increases admin costs for providers
• since insurance companies all want a deal, providers need to obfuscate real prices (cash discount, network discount, etc)
• care providers have to worry about lawsuits for just doing their job, so they're more conservative with care options

And so on. A few simple changes would dramatically improve things IMO:

• require employers to offer the cash value for any declined benefits
• offer tax savings for all medical care, regardless of how it's paid for (premiums outside payroll, costs of direct care, etc)
• disallow discounts for care, you pay the same whether you use insurance or not
• require insurance to have simple terms, understandable by the average 8th grader - no networks, no max costs, only deductible, max out of pocket, number of free preventative visits, copay, etc; insurance should compete on service, not covered procedures
• reduce patent duration so generics can come out sooner

That won't fix all of our problems, but it should solve a lot of them. Medicare should exist for the uninsurable and the poor, the rest can get private insurance.

We should also discuss public healthcare as an option as well, but the above should fix a lot of the problems we have.