What is Wrong with Our Health Care?

So the flavor of the month is health care. But in order to fix "health care" it would be helpful to understand what is wrong with it. I asked a few people but there doesn't seem to be a clear answer.

The main concerns really focus on the cost/finance/economics of health care. So what do we have? One, the "cost" of health care is too high (presumably the premiums that either employees and/or employers pay). Two, there are lots of uninsured people who presumably may or may not get medical attention; if they do get medical attention, then they end up raising the "cost" of health care.

When I ask how these problems arise, we get to no clear answer. I was told it's because the pharmaceutical companies raise cost of drugs to insurance who in turn would raise cost to everyone else. Another person told me it's because all the uninsured somehow raise the cost of insurance (but if the insurance doesn't cover, and hospital doesn't get money from insurance for the uninsured, how do they raise cost for the insurance? I would think it would raise the cost for hospital but this is an aside.). Another person pointed out that it's all the frivolous lawsuits that raise malpractice insurance which raises health care cost (once again, if that raises malpractice insurance rates, how does that translate to health insurance premiums rising? I thought those were two different insurance companies, but again this is an aside). Someone else thinks it's because we are a nation of obese people and just generally unhealthy, raising the cost of health care because we require more complex procedures (diabetes associated with obesity, heart problems associated with obesity, etc. etc.).

I guess what I'm trying to understand, in this health care reform issue, is do we know what the underlying problem is? In order to solve a problem, it would be helpful to understand the problem. And right now, I don't have a sense that I clearly understand the root (more likely roots?) of the problem... and maybe it's because I haven't researched thoroughly. But when I get different answers from different people, I get the sense that most people do not have a clear idea of the problem either. And perhaps that may be the problem to solve first... to get America to clearly understand what the problem (and the underlying cause) is. But that's just my humble opinion.