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> Not sure it's that simple...

There aren't that many countries that pay as much as the us from public funds (two, see my previous link) or out of pocket (none).

The problem is localized to the US.




Consider: - The US is much fatter, on average - Medicare's standards for reimbursement are often not based on cost effectivenes - The US government will pay around $150K/QALY vs. e.g. the UK's c. $40K/QALY.

More expensive healthcare per capita is what I'd expect given those attributes and "single payer is the only solution" does not seem to be logically linked to the problem and facts.


You are paying much more than anyone else[0]. I really doubt that's because of you being the 17th fattest country by BMI[1].

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_total_hea...

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_body_mass...


Please note that the data you link does not address obesity and health costs simultaneously! Obesity is indeed a contributing factor, around 5% of total.[ξ] And from your references, the US has substantially more obeses and overweights per capita than the countries against which it is compared for health costs

[ξ]https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1449869/




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