"We will pay for the medical care deemed necessary to your health by a competent physician. We will pay for yearly checkups"

You still get into the circular hassles, that statement holds assumptions to be true for it to be valid such as:

Define medical care
Define deemed to be necessary - and who is authorised to define it
Define competent physician and by what standards is that judged, by whom and who changes it
Define checkups - extent, depth, relevancy, standards

Each of those is a whole world of hurt for insurance actuaries, let alone for the realities of health care at point of delivery.

As you point out it probably would not be simple as the initial statement suggests. However, in adding necesary definitions etc, arguably you can get back to todays situation. I hear where you are coming from though.

Of course we all want the best care around, preferably free, or at least someone else pays. When we accept thats Utopia, which most do - medical costs are escalating alarmingly as more complex medical treatments are evolved to meet conditions previously impossible to treat (even unknown) - then definitions and regulations are inevitable to "ration what is available". To do that you are back to where you came from, the need for a Supreme Court type of mechanism to arbitrate - whats common sense to one person, is lunacy to another.

This is one of those emotive frustrating issues that will never be resolved, too many conflicting interests in the equation, all we can do is put in place an arbitration system that reflects Societies general vision & values at the time of final decision making. That will never satisfy those whose views were not upheld, so we are back to Circles again, and inevitable compromise, its unavoidable.

The bottom line is it's about the bottom line. Insurance companies are in the business of collecting as much money from you as possible and paying back out as little money as possible. It's what they do. They don't actually want to pay for anything at all, and that's what they'd do if they thought they could get away with it. Biggest organized crime racket in the world.

Giving you the freedom to choose just might encourage you to actually see a competent doctor for treatment that might actually cause the insurance company to have to let go of some of that precious cash. Can't have that now can we? Better to make it as complicated as possible, difficult to use, and deny as much as possible in order to keep that cash. Mercedes and Jaguars aren't cheap ya know.

First off 'health care insurance' in a misnomer what you are really buying is sickness insurance.

Like Mason pointed out, like everything else in a capitalist society, it's all about the money, if they make the money they stay in business, if they do not, they go bankrupt and millions are screwed.

The other end of the equation is the sheer cost of these treatments. There is no way is any country ever going to be able to afford the "everyone gets everything free" concept, never happen. In UK we have had Universal Free Healthcare at point of delivery for 60 years, even with that general principle there is a growing acceptance that an element of payment is necessary, free healthcare under all situations is Utopia which cannot work.

The very valid point re Insurance Company bottom line is well taken, and that should be dealt with within a suitable regulatory framework to curb excess. If the regulatory process does not work properly, change the regulation relating to Insurance profit levels, that would be a valid action - but totally free at point of delivery will never work long term.

I'm fairly certain for the Schedule A you can not include insurance payments in your health care costs. It is what you actually paid to a doctor/hospital. I looked into it a few years back when I had to have a major operation and was paying for my own (very lacking) health insurance. I wasn't allowed to include the insurance payments in the deduction.

I'll look that up.

It is what you actually paid to a doctor/hospital.

And mileage to  and from the appointments (although I think it is a very cheap rate).

As to your question - for us old folks, that is how it use to be.  But then congress - and especially Ted Kennedy - got into the mix and forced them to come up with HMOs (and more recently PPOs).  Back when I first got insurance (we are talking 70s 80s here), we could go to any doctor and get any procedure.  Our first child was born under that system.  But by the time the last one came around, they kicked you out of the hospital after 24 hours, and you could only go to THEIR hospitals.

Now, on the issue of premiums, your employer should offer you the option of pre-tax deductions.  Which means that while you are being charged $700, you only see a reduction of about $400-500 in your net take home (depending upon state and tax bracket).

Also, for large companies, Insurance companies are just the administrators of the plan.  They get their cut for administering it, but your employer is paying the difference between your premiums and your usage of the money.  So if your company charges 1000 workers $1000 a year (to use round numbers - that equals $1m), but the employees claim $2m in benefits, then the company pays the insurance company the extra million dollars.  The insurance company charges the company a fee (based on the size of the contract) to adminster the plan, but the company is actually paying for your medical. 

From the IRS.gov Website

"Medical expenses include insurance premiums paid for accident and health or qualified long-term care insurance. You may not deduct insurance premiums for life insurance, for policies providing for loss of wages because of illness or injury, or policies that pay you a guaranteed amount each week for a sickness. In addition, the deduction for a qualified long–term care insurance policy's premium is limited. Refer to Publication 502 , Medical and Dental Expenses.

You may not deduct insurance premiums paid by an employer–sponsored health insurance plan (cafeteria plan) unless the premiums are included in Box 1 of your Form W-2 (PDF)."

WWW Link

We do have a cafeteria plan, that I will be eligible for next month.

"Of course we all want the best care around, preferably free, or at least someone else pays."

As good as that sounds, what I really want is health care equal to the amount I'm paying. If it's costing me $700 a month, I want to be covered, not half-covered or a little covered.