Trick question! As Jon Walker writes in The American Prospect, that’s what we pay right now, and it’s nearly twice the amount of almost any other highly industrialized country, but for much worse outcomes (even when people do seek care, which many don’t because of high copays and deductibles which could be eliminated in a singlepayer system). So where does all that money go? Primarily as “profits” for drug companies, as well as for an army of staff at hospitals who do nothing but argue with another army of staff at insurance companies about whether or not to pay for people’s healthcare.
So the question that should be asked is whether our elected representatives have the guts to fight the drug, healthcare, and health insurance lobbyists, and push for a singlepayer system, which is the most efficient—and moral—system we’ve devised so far.