The figure 10-15% of GDP of a rich country seems to be concealing something important: in the US, it's nearly 20%. In Western Europe, it's generally around 10%, for the same, slightly better, or in some cases much better health outcomes.
The UK has a famously stingy system which costs 7.5% of GDP, however the UK has better infant mortality than the state with the best infant mortality, Massachusetts. The worst states have infant mortality 2-3 times that of the UK. (Note that the poorest states in the US, LA and AL, still have GDP higher than the UK. So the 7.5% is of a much lower per capita GDP.)
The average EU country spends a little more than the UK, as a % of GDP. But has health outcomes well ahead of the UK, and considerably far ahead of the best-performing US states.
It seems kind of distorted not to point out that around half of the US spend goes either on luxury healthcare for the rich, or emergency healthcare to those who can't afford proper healthcare, or simple rent-seeking by entrenched players (pharma, doctors, insurance companies) and that none of these improves health outcomes by very much.
> the UK has better infant mortality than the state with the best infant mortality, Massachusetts
The US uses a different definition for infant mortality than the UK or any other European country. (One major difference is whether a borderline-nonviable birth gets counted in the infant mortality or stillbirth column.) The raw numbers are not directly comparable. Correcting for the expected effect of difference in definitions, the UK still has lower infant mortality than the US overall, but by a far smaller factor.
You are talking about a difference which would reduce recorded US infant mortality by around 15%, when it's nearly double that of Western European countries, and infant mortality in poor regions and for ethnic minorities is far more than that.
The UK has a famously stingy system which costs 7.5% of GDP, however the UK has better infant mortality than the state with the best infant mortality, Massachusetts. The worst states have infant mortality 2-3 times that of the UK. (Note that the poorest states in the US, LA and AL, still have GDP higher than the UK. So the 7.5% is of a much lower per capita GDP.)
The average EU country spends a little more than the UK, as a % of GDP. But has health outcomes well ahead of the UK, and considerably far ahead of the best-performing US states.
It seems kind of distorted not to point out that around half of the US spend goes either on luxury healthcare for the rich, or emergency healthcare to those who can't afford proper healthcare, or simple rent-seeking by entrenched players (pharma, doctors, insurance companies) and that none of these improves health outcomes by very much.