Oddly, people come to the US from all over the world to get better care and to get treatments not available in their home countries.. People in the US travel all over the world to get cheaper healthcare..

Yes our system is messed up. A simple solution would have been to just open the insurance markets to a nationwide system as well as offer up co-ops, the fact that the insurance system is regulated on a state by state basis is the biggest reason why we are where we are at. It wouldn't have taken the wide sweeping changes that are being implemented to fix it.

One telling issue is that if this is the system to fix all then why are there states, unions, lawmakers and other entities that are allowed to "opt" out? Why would we still need Medicare and Medicaid if this system supposedly insures everyone? It's a half assed answer to a problem that could have been implemented in a much better way simply by spending a bit more time on it rather than ramming through a piece of legislation just for the sake of doing it.

I am 43 and self employed, I pay out of pocket for my doctor visits (I have only actually been to the doctor 3 times in the last 20 years) outside of that I maintain a catastrophic policy just in case anything serious happens, my insurance will be increasing. A comparable plan through an exchange is double what I pay now.