We need to make healthcare truly universal. We need to make it much less expensive. We need to improve preventative care and treatment of chronic conditions.
This is not a call for a single-payer healthcare system. A multi-payer system will do just fine – an easier transition from what we already have. Japan, Germany, and Switzerland all have multi-payer systems with universal coverage and they do a lot better than us in the cost department. Quality's not too shabby either.
The nice thing about having a unitary healthcare system (rather than our current fragmented mess) is that everyone would play by the same rules. There would be consistent government-approved care guidelines and price schedules. Less room for arbitrary denial of treatments, defensive medicine, or unnecessary procedures. We'd still have plenty of choice at the provider level. We'd still have the option to pay for additional care or insurance. What's wrong with that?
Don't say "socialized medicine", that substitution for thinking popularized by the American Medical Association 70 years ago. Healthcare has achieved the status of a basic right. Start with that premise and go from there.
There's no way you can go from making it easier to buy health insurance, or to incentivize buying health insurance, and get to universal coverage. Some people just can't or won't buy insurance. The US would still have millions uninsured if we had a completely voluntary system. So, yeah, and I'll say the word...coercion would be part of the equation. That means just about everyone would have to pay into the system and some people would have to subsidize the care of others. No please pay or we'll impose a small fine on you, ala Obamacare.
"Coercion" sounds terrible... but taxes, regulations, and laws are all about coercion. There are some life domains where we are not calling the shots.
Try to cultivate the "we're all in this together" attitude.
Next: Let's look at how Japan does it.