My mother underwent chemotherapy for her cancer.
According to the statements from her insurance company, each round of chemotherapy cost as much as a new luxury car before hospital vs. insurance negotiations. Yeah.
The value of health insurance isn't just the offloading of expenses, it's also their power to tell hospitals to get fucking bent with ludicrous bills.
That leads hospitals to 1000x every treatment price so when insurance companies come to negotiate they can negotiate down to 100x. It causes hospitals to understaff because is cheaper to pay for legal staff to handle malpractice claims than it is to not work your nurses and doctors to death.
It causes drug companies consolidate and then charge through the nose for drugs that cost them pennies to manufacturer (for example, penicillin or insulin) drugs that, everyone should be aware, all of the R&D and FDA approval has been done. The most expensive part of drug development is done.
There are solutions. It's regulations. Hospitals regulated to minimal coverage. Drug/hospitals hit with anti price gouging regulations. Insurance companies hit with coverage regulations.
That's all something doable and probably with enough political will to be done.
An even better idea is simply nationalizing medicine, top to bottom. That's unlikely to happen, but would result in the biggest drop in healthcare costs.
In the immortal words of President Ronald Reagan: "I'm from the government and I'm here to help."
Which is to say, no. Obviously this is a long-brewing problem in need of a solution, but more government is not it.
Every semi functioning healthcare system has more government involvement than what the US does.
Reagan was wrong.
It's a lot like "Black Friday" sales where retailers jack up their shelf prices in the preceding days and weeks so they can mark them down and persuade the customers they're getting attractive deals.
Public healthcare, of any sort, should not involve working with third party insurance companies.
In any case, this is also why medical tourism is a thing - you could go get the exact same treatment, to completion, half way around for far less than what you the cost you were quoted for a single round in the US - including housing and other costs.