What steps should the US government take to address the disconnect between relatively high healthcare spending and relatively poor health outcomes for Americans?

"Back in the 1980's and 1990's, we had a relatively strong movement toward "Managed Care" which was primarily focused on primary care and involved lots of preventative measures. It was called a "gatekeeper" process wherein referrals were needed for PCP control over specialty care in non-emergency situations. It proved to be very cost effective and yielded a higher quality of care. Under such a system, cost control was a by product of doctors limiting care based on medical need and mostly, not on costs. I believe that big money financial interests caused its demise since it limited the ways that they could enrich themselves. I say "follow the money" and you will find the culprits, just like in most things."

• "As someone that works in the health insurance industry, the rising cost of health insurance is going to be problematic. A typical family plan can run over $2,000 with a very high deductible. What many do not consider is that when an undocumented immigrant and/or an uninsured person goes to the hospital, more times than not, those services are not covered. The hospital has to recover those costs some how and they are getting passed along in higher costs to those with insurance."

"The food we are permitted to buy in our country is illegal in many of the other countries. The ubiquity of seed oils and other ultra processed foods destroy our bodies' ability to heal and work properly. The Big Pharma wants to prescribe drugs for symptoms, but health care professionals are not taught about the need for better nutrition. All this adds up to fat, sedentary people clogging up the healthcare system and taking far too many drugs, expecting to get healthy."

• "Can we PLEASE get a Single-Payer healthcare system like every other modern nation has?! Y’all, the free market is not the solution to this, human health should not be a for profit industry. I can’t believe I even need to say that. Let’s kick out the mafia-like middle men (insurance companies) which are needlessly getting in the way of who’s actually important: Americans and their doctors."

"I feel like some sort of regulation of health insurance and billing simply to simplify and organize the process would see high levels of benefits for people, even if prices don't get lowered. If it could be simplified to the point where people could actually tell upfront what their options and prices are, I think people would better be able to choose what options are actually good for them. Then, AFTER we get organizational/structural problems figured out, we can start discussing if regulation needs to happen to the actual pricing/costs. It's definitely a mess. We need to start taking sludge away instead of continually adding junk to an already over-complicated process."

• "How about we start by not importing millions of indigent people and then expecting the US taxpayer to pick up the tab? I think that's a reasonable place to start fixing much of what ails the US financially, including housing costs."

"If there could be workers rights to get PTO for a doctor’s visit there would probably be more people opting for preventative care. It’s such a hassle to navigate appointments with work hours that I usually wait until I’m sick to see a doctor."