Your average American has employer-paid health insurance, which covers most of their costs. According to the OECD, average out-of-pocket healthcare expenditure in the U.S. is $1,370, versus $629 in the U.K. https://data.oecd.org/healthres/health-spending.htm. Keep in mind that median household disposable (post-tax) income in the U.S. is $45,000, versus $29,000 in the U.K.
One case is the obvious cost of having a child in America, even with insurance some people pay thousands of dollars.
The difference in median disposable income between the U.S. and the U.K. is stunning: almost $17,000. Even after you factor in things like student loan debt (averaging $220/month for the minority of people who have student loans at all) and out-of-pocket healthcare expenses and premiums (a few thousand a year on average, versus maybe a thousand or so in other OECD countries), the median American household is coming out way ahead.
> Two-thirds of people who file for bankruptcy cite medical issues as a key contributor to their financial downfall. [2]
United Kingdom suicide rate per 100,000 7.5, United States 13.8 [3]
United States Murder Rate per 100,000 5.35, United Kingdom 1.2 [4]
More to life than money I guess, also your $17,000 is accounting for income distribution, at first glance that looks good but while our income distribution is pretty bad, the US is positively Dickensian.
No jingoism intended here, we get a lot wrong and other countries straight up kick our arse (Spain's infant mortality rate is half ours at 2.0 for example amongst major European countries) but that just means we should be looking to improve.
[1] https://data.oecd.org/healthstat/infant-mortality-rates.htm
[2] https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/11/this-is-the-real-reason-most...
[3] https://data.oecd.org/healthstat/suicide-rates.htm#indicator...
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intention...
As to income distribution: that’s the OECD’s estimate of the median household. So it’s not being skewed up by super-rich households.
As to bankruptcies, less than 0.5% of households file for bankruptcy in a given year.
As to homicide or suicide rate: again, that affects a tiny minority. Meanwhile, the much higher income affects 60-70% of the whole population.
The U.K. is a society where you’ve lowered the median to lift up the floor. That’s one way to do it. And I don’t even disagree with you that the US should do more in that regard. But if you support an expanded welfare state (and I do), it’s dishonest to sell that policy to people by pretending that the average person is going to be better off. Unless they place a very high value on security (avoiding low probability outcomes like medical bankruptcy) over material comfort, they’re going to be worse off.
Is inequality not a problem, because on average we all have the same opportunities?
More in the UK get free prescriptions than don't. Even with the most involved care I can't find a way to make it that expensive. So maybe they're including people voluntarily paying some treatment not available on the NHS like homeopathy or unproven experimental treatments, or private insurance generally. Maybe they count dentistry as healthcare.
Prescription charges for some, hospital parking, drinks machine... Unless you include something else it doesn't add up.
I have two serious conditions and it costs me a quarter of that.