Mind the gap
This image, via Harry Hutton, is nothing special; it's just another one of the countless charts showing that the United States of America is #1 in health care. Health care costs, mind you -- we're definitely not #1 in waiting times, quality of care, and life expectancies -- but it shows we are at least #1 in something.
But the interesting thing about this chart is that it gives a nice comparison to some other countries where the healthcare is a bit better than ours. If I carefully crop down to a few columns on the right side of the graph, I end up with a visual comparison between the per capita cost of healthcare between Canada and the United States. Note the difference between the public sector expenditures here:
The total US spending is head and shoulders above everyone else, of course, because there are a lot of executives and upper class twits who Neeeeeeeeeeeed their next gold-filled swimming pools. But notice the public sector expenditures? The United States spends more money per capita out of the public purse than Canada does. And then we toss that much money AGAIN into the hands of private healthcare.
You know, if the price of socialised medicine is that we'd have to spend what the average Canadian spends to get their quality of healthcare, please sign me up. Lower taxes, less money out of pocket, better healthcare, and one less layer of bloated parasites sucking the vitality out of the American economy sounds like an excellent exchange for 100% medical coverage for every citizen.