Yes, that would also be true. I was just trying to be as concise as possible.

The problem with American healthcare isn't simply that healthcare is expensive, or even that people aren't receiving it. The deeper problem is that we've built healthcare into a predominantly profit-driven corporate system.

And to be clear, I don't have a problem with people making money from medicine. There is absolutely nothing wrong with profiting from developing a revolutionary medical technology, discovering a new treatment, manufacturing equipment, or creating a drug that genuinely improves people's lives. Innovation requires investment, and investment requires the possibility of a return.

The problem is what happens when the entire healthcare system is subjected to the same corporate incentives as every other industry: maximize revenue, minimize costs, consolidate market power, increase shareholder returns, and treat the patient as a revenue source.

Healthcare isn't a normal consumer product. When you need a refrigerator, you can decide whether you want to buy one. When you're having a heart attack, you don't exactly have the luxury of shopping around for the best deal.

That's where the fundamental problem lies. It's not that healthcare is allowed to make money. It's that we've allowed profit maximization to become one of the primary organizing principles of a system where the consumer often has virtually no ability to negotiate, comparison-shop, or simply walk away.