I completely agree, but how likely is it that big government will be able to accurately audit whether a procedure was actually required or not? In fact, I'd prefer if big government would stay out of it and just pay for my healthcare to keep me healthy & alive. I am not an expert on the procedures I need, and neither is big government. We put our trust in medical practitioners to make those decisions for us. The problem is that they benefit financially from those decisions.
If you ask me, the answer is to stop conducting these services as fee-for-service. Pay physicians a salary. Pay them well, but keep costs somewhat fixed.
Turns out medical practitioners are not experts either. There are plenty of health situations where you can get treatment A or treatment B and the only thing deciding that choice is the doctor's personal preference and that might have nothing to do with best patient outcomes.
You need organizations like Cochrane or NICE to provide evidence based guidance.
If you ask me, the answer is to stop conducting these services as fee-for-service. Pay physicians a salary. Pay them well, but keep costs somewhat fixed.