American healthcare now costs more than $5 trillion a year — nearly one-fifth of the entire U.S. economy.

But where does all that money actually come from? And where does it go?

In this first episode of a new Reimagine Healthcare series, Noah Volz breaks down the money machine behind American healthcare in plain English. Households, employers, the federal government, and state governments all help finance the system. The money then flows through hospitals, physician groups, drug companies, insurers, administrative layers, and a web of billing rules that most people never fully see.

The result is a system that is not just expensive, but structurally expensive.

This episode explains why healthcare costs keep rising even when patients, employers, doctors, hospitals, and governments all feel under pressure. It ...