Comment by Yawrehto

Because it makes money for Big Pharma and insurance.

And no one else. That's it.

If we switched to Swedish-style healthcare, even accounting for the population difference, the US government ALONE -- ALONE -- would spend about 1/4 as much on healthcare (medicare+medicaid) as it currently does. The public would spend less. And businesses would probably spend less, due to not needing to pay such high premiums. The system would be simpler and it would be easier to catch fraud.

It's a combination of polarization, inertia, and effectively bribery by big companies that we haven't switched yet. That would probably help with a lot of your questions.

Our healthcare system is just crap. Most people don't like it, but...yeah. (By the way, if I had to guess, patient privacy rules might interfere with automation. Not sure/at all confident, though)

Good luck in figuring out our healthcare system. And I hope you like the US! We're not as idiotic as our politicians make it seem. :)