I'm sure there are many reasons for the silly high costs for health care in the U.S. In my view, at least one of the primary reasons is that it is a fundamentally dislocated market.
Health care is one of the very few markets in which neither the consumer (i.e., the patient) of the goods/services nor the provider (i.e., the healthcare provider) of the goods/services knows the costs of the goods/services. Is there any surprise that costs are out of wack?
Ask your doctor or a nurse what a procedure costs, or what the EKG costs, etc., and in most instances they have no idea. The do know, however, that Judy at the front desk can look it up and Judy will know whether it's covered by your insurance and what code the procedure is under for your particular insurance plan. She likely also doesn't know the cost....
Whenever consumer are not making consumer choices, prices go out of control.