The Primary Problem with Heaing is NOT the UI

A lot of people an Blizzard too seem to think the main problem with healing is the UI. I really don't think the UI is the main issue (though it could use some tweaks). The problem with healing is that it is simplistic and boring. It's essentially whack-a-mole and UI mods only make this comparison more apt. A lot of people don't find whack-a-mole particularly entertaining, and hence not a lot of people want to heal. It's not the the UI restrains them, it's that the basic healing spells and abilities are not interesting. (Indeed, the UI and UI mods provide the only thing remotely interesting about healing. If people didn't play the UI with spells as they are currently designed then the situation with healers would be even worse).

Consider for instance if Warriors only had Rend, Slam, a bigger version of Slam that took longer to cast, Thunderclap (and for the sake of comparison, remove auto attacks). Would that be very engaging or entertaining? No. Now make Thunderclap back into the pre 3.0 version, so the Warrior has to tab around to build up aggro on everything. That's what healing is, essentially. The Devs decided that even with a number of abilities, the whack-a-mole gameplay wasn't good for tanks. Healers should not be stuck then with a small number of abilities AND whack-a-mole play.

I think we all know that healers are the hardest member of a group to get. Tanks are the second hardest, but much easier to get, especially with the 3.0 changes. Now it is time that healers get a revamp so they are actually fun and interesting to play. They need multiple, different abilities. They need reasons to pay attention to what is going on. For instance, give them powers to shield the group as a whole from danger, and they have a reason to look at what the boss is doing.

Oh, and smart heals aren't the problem, it's the fact all the other spells are boring that is the problem. Smart heals get rid of the whack-a-mole help people realize how boring the healing mechanics really are.

Side Note: Personally I think Shadow Priest/Blood Death Knight/Feral Druid ILotP need to be more common among classes. If you have a little more of that then you wouldn't need a disproportionate number of healers in raids.