Well, let's start here: you seem to have left out the humiliating suffering of almost 2 Million citizens...sorry, 1.7 Million US households that declare bankruptcy EVERY YEAR at the inability to cover their healthcare expenses. Many of them carrying the high-deductible traps or self-pay you feel so giddy about. 15 million others will deplete their savings to cover medical bills. Another 10 million will be unable to pay for necessities such as rent, food and utilities because of medical bills.
Wow. That's what you took away?
OK, first the fundamental problem is that costs are too high. All the rest of what you're talking about stems from that simple fact. If costs were lower, there would be fewer bankruptcies etc.
Second, I have no idea how you got this from what I wrote:
Do you intend to sell the notion that this "issue" will be solved when larger proportions of citizens go WITHOUT insurance? At least I'm glad you jumped first.
No. Carrying insurance, which insulates you from catastrophic or severe expenses is good. It is something everyone should have. Carrying a health plan that insulates you from every expense and makes every decision cost-neutral, on the other hand, is a terrible idea. It guarantees that you will pay more for your healthcare than you would have without it.
It's simple math. REALLY simple math. I'm going to use round numbers that of course will vary from person to person but which have come from my own shopping for my own health plans.
A health plan that does not cover an annual checkup is $450/month. A health plan that does cover a single annual checkup (with a $25 copay) is $500/month. That means that for your annual checkup you will pay an extra $625. A doctor's office visit with complete physical will cost between $50 and $150, depending on where you go. Paying $625 for a $150 doctor's visit is stupid. Better plan? Get the most expensive general practitioner you can find and go three times a year out of pocket. Even better plan? Find a doctor you like and trust and go once a year, paying out of pocket, and leave the "office visit" line item off your policy.
Even if you have employer-provided insurance (I do not) if you think that money isn't coming out of the maximum that your employer would pay you, you're wrong.
Obviously where to set your deductible is a personal choice and will depend on income levels and other expenses. You ought to realistically assess what would be catastrophic and what would be inconvenient. If a $500 medical expense would bankrupt you and cause your family to starve to death, you probably ought to have a $250 deductible. If a $2000 expense would be a big problem but you could manage with a payment plan with the hospital or whatever, then a $2000 deductible isn't such a bad idea and will save you a hefty amount of insurance premiums.
For everyone else that might've found the above post interesting, but still be coachable about it, the difference between vehicle insurance and health insurance should be easy to comprehend: while your scooter has a known value at any point in time, a limited value both you and your insurance company can agree it's better to declare a total loss, no such cap actually exists for humans, especially for loved ones. By law, no one can decide you're a total loss until the most emotionally involved human being decides to kill you. Are there any parallels in the commercial insurance world to this? No, human healthcare is in a category of its own.
Do I need to explain to you what an analogy is?
Do you agree that there is a difference between a plan that pays for regular, predictible, ongoing expenses and one that covers you for unexpected expenses? Insurance is about spreading the risk pool out, regardless of the kind of insurance it is. An annual checkup has no risk to spread. If your policy covers something that you know you're going to spend every year, then all you are doing is paying extra to the insurance company to get them to write the check instead of you.
Irrespective of whatever downward cost pressure may be obtained with your localized self-pay-want-to-haggle strategy, or your willingness to do research and become a pseudo-doctor that can fake "informed decisions" about which medications you take, or take trips to Thailand for the kidney transplant, when it comes to pulling the plug on your wife or your daughter, most people are inclined to do quite the opposite of haggling.
OK, just stop lying about what I wrote. Please.