The crux of it is that the inability to negotiate prices at all levels of the health care system is the core problem. Hospitals can't negotiate with manufacturers of equipment and supplies because they all do it individually, insurance companies can't force hospitals to set standard prices for things (hence your $300 for 5 aspirin tablets - I had that once when my ex-girlfriend went to the ER), and patients have no ability whatsoever to negotiate anything.

Obama went after trying to make sure everyone had care, in the misguided notion that this would drive prices down. In reality, the people who didn't have care are mostly the ones who were denied by everyone, so adding them to the system has raised costs for everyone.

A better solution would be either moving to single-payer (i.e., socialized medicine) or setting up collective bargaining units - mandatory ones, in fact - by region, that force manufacturers and suppliers to charge only set prices, that then set what margins hospitals can add and which then set the rates insurers can charge, like what is done with utilities. That, along with malpractice reform and a few other changes, could finally achieve what has eluded Obama thus far - a reduction in how much we pay for medical care.