> However I recall the night my son was born - the facilities, staff and resources of the hospital were unmatched - the mother and baby would not have the same experience anywhere else in the world.

We had a wonderful experience with the birth of our daughter, but I have no idea how I could claim it was better than anywhere in the world. I'm asking because you seem to be making a low-hyperbole claim here: what is your basis for saying that? Particularly, when the US has some of the worst metrics for infant mortality, birth weights, and mother mortality rates in the developed world.

> My wife works in the ER - they constantly use procedures and deploy resources in ways that would be considered impractical elsewhere in the world.

Does this actually lead to better health outcomes? The US ranks low in the developed world in many health-related areas. Some of them are at least in part due to cultural issues and it is completely fair to attribute to our healthcare system. But some of them like our rates of medical and lab errors clearly are. I'm genuinely looking for data to support the idea that the tradeoff you mentioned actually exists.