Flaws of the Existing System

Our health care system today is comprised of "payers", health insurance companies that are for profit, and thus more interested in making money then successfully serving their customers, the American people. To summarize, the American health care system is a capitalist business, where various insurance companies "cover" their patron's health care. In this practice people pay their heath insurance company a disclosed fee, either individually or through their employer and the insurance company covers the person's medical bills, medications, doctor visits, etc. This seems simple right? If only it were so. Millions have no insurance. Millions more are under insured and are paying exuberant premiums just to be assured health care, and even this is not always definite.
This system has been in place for almost a century, and ever since its start people have been pushing for reforms. As of 2007, 47 million people, 16 percent of our population live without any form of health insurance, a statistic estimated to significantly rise if this caustic system remains. Countless others are under insured, left with costly medical bills because their insurance company won't cover them. Sadly, these bills are often for life saving procedures that are absolutely necessary, yet the insurance company denies coverage, and in the majority of these cases the person must file for bankruptcy to pay for the procedures themselves.
Our country does have forms of universal health care, Medicaid for lower income people and Medicare for the elderly. These programs cover most of the health expenses for these two groups, yet even they need to be reformed. While these programs are a step in the right direction even they have their flaws. In 1983 an Amendment to the Social Security Act had Medicare pay a flat rate to hospitals when Medicare patients stayed in them, as opposed to the standard hospital fee. A doctor later testified that this caused many hospitals to not give as good of care to them because they were not paying as much. This is a prime example of why our health care system must be government regulated and not for profit.
The United States spends the most money on health care than any other country, yet statistics show that we have some of the least efficient care in the industrialized world. How can this be so? Possibly because for every dollar spent on health care a quarter of it goes just to administration, f.y.i. that's the people who work for the insurance company that must read each individual claim and decide if they should approve that person or not. Often these companies decide to approve when it is most profitable for them, not for the person involved. Our health system must be reformed, we need to have health care that is equal and affordable for everyone, where care is given blindly without thought to what that person's age, gender, income, or state of health is. Health care should not be a for profit business where many people get rich off the misfortunes of others.