Walter Reed is an Army Medical Center. Many of the problems there have to do with chain of command management issues and a lack of Army funding. Additionally, those service members receiving care there are generally a part of a military chain of command and don't have much of a voice to complain. Military medical centers are not "systems" in the sense that they operate independently and are at the mercy of being one part of a huge budget whose leaders have determined hospital funding is not a priority.

The VA is an excellent model of a single payer system, the only such system in the U.S. It provides better care than Medicare, for one-third the cost. There have been issues with getting enough doctors, which extends wait times, but as for providing care economically and efficiently, it is a good place to start to look for ideas.

Oddly, you point to France as an example. France’s healthcare system is used as a benchmark among health care systems and the last time I looked was ranked first for performance. Can you please cite the souce that indicates 45% tax ? When I researched this in 2003, employers paid around 13% and self employed people paid around 7%. There is also a 5% tax on general incomes. There is also an income cap around $100K. Other funding is obtained from "sin taxes" and pharm companies, who benefit because France agrees to buy the drugs they market.

As for your other arguments - you should get a job lobbying for the bigpharmas or the AMA. You certainly listen to their arguments.