Not that health economics is my area of expertise so feel free to contradict me, but I believe the US per-capita healthcare spending on Medicare, Medicaid et al is actually higher than comparable nations with universal healthcare. The rationing, measuring and paying is really very expensive to administer.
>the US per-capita healthcare spending on Medicare, Medicaid et al is actually higher than comparable nations with universal healthcare.
This is true.
>The rationing, measuring and paying is really very expensive to administer.
This is not.
We have written legislation that prevents us from negotiating for healthcare goods and services; we protect US doctors from foreign competition and allow the profession to artificially constrain the supply. We also prevent Americans from importing drugs, or buying into other countries' health care systems - also shielding the domestic market from competition. Also, patents and reformulations.
Administration is actually a very small overhead. Rent-seeking is the problem.
