The private insurance system that we have today isn't special. Other countries insure their populations for much less.
You're right, the private insurance we have today is not great, at least its nothing compared to the private insurance we had in 2009, before the government decided they could make it more 'affordable'.
Over the next several years I experienced at x3 increase in my premium, got dropped by three consecutive insurers as they went out of business and watched the quality of my insurance plummet.
I'm currently in a health care sharing group right now, relatively untouched by the government for the time being, and it actually approaches the quality of insurance I had before Obama f*&^ everything up.
Anyway I'm not totally convinced a total government takeover of the healthcare industry is a really great idea.