But at least so far the political configuration of that discontent, not the magnitude of it, has prevented progress on lowering the cost of health care.Health insurance in this country suffers from kind of a legacy situation. It is sort of like how the qwerty keyboard is terribly inefficient, but most people continue to use it.
From what I have read, at some point health insurance was offered as a means to beef up compensation in a way that was tax friendly for employees, thus helping to entice better employees to come work for your company. This became kind of the standard default and typically covered the family, not just the employee.
This was considered a perk in a situation where most people whipped out their check book to pay for medical care because it was relatively reasonably priced. Then health insurance became kind of the default and it adds overhead and complexity. Obomacare was passed as the only politically viable solution and it's a terrible solution.
Health insurance coverage for basic services doesn't really make sense. Insurance only makes sense as a bet to defray unexpected expenses. When you use it cover annual exams and other basics that you know are guaranteed to happen, it essentially creates an unnecessary middleman, pushing prices higher without providing any real benefit for the cost involved.
This is where we are now and most people don't know how to get out of this mess. It doesn't help that Obamacare puts a gun to your head and insists that most people participate in this charade or be fined at tax time, in essence. Ugh.