>>We have a for-profit healthcare system operated by large corporations combined with a trickle-down economic policy. Toss in a few lobbyist and some corruption and there you have it.

Just compare Medicaid to Medicare: they're both taxpayer funded but Medicaid has strict rules to ensure it gets the best prices while Medicare recently introduced a Schedule D that provided a bonanza for big pharma that the lobbyists you describe are trying to perpetuate.

The issue is that brave politicians are few and far between, and the vested interests to prevent the Medicaid principles being applied in other funding schemes, are too powerful.

Time to start throwing tea in the harbor? ;-)