CVS Health Corporation owns almost 10,000 drug stores and fills more than 20% of all US prescriptions. It also owns Aetna, the largest health insurance company in the US. It's the fourth largest US company by revenue. Another health insurance company is number five.
The largest health care operator in the US is HCA Healthcare which runs 187 hospitals, and has $60 billion in revenue.
Wow. I had no idea CVS owns Aetna!
One possible explanation for why we got the ACA instead of open Medicare when Democrats had the power under Obama is open Medicare enrollment has a greater chance of preventing Universal single pair down the road.
Open Medicare enrollment is also in some ways close to the status quo of Medicaid.
Lastly, it is a risky option because it pits Medicare directly against private insurance- what if it isn't cheaper or people don't like it
It doesn't really seem like the medical industry is going in any particular direction other than developing more subscription drugs (whos primary sure sign that theyre doing anything is the side effects) and marketing them after using regulatory capture to approve them. One time cures barely get any funding or marketing or regulatory acceleration because they're simply not as profitable.
It's a really deeply cynical industry that I don't foresee fixing itself without near-total or total collapse.
That would be s/improvement/profit though, right? I bet they absolutely can manage that squeeze, and I bet it won't register as "improvement" from your perspective.