Who would support single payer universal health care or Medicare for all?

[Uncle Joe]

34. The for profit "health" insurance industry has nothing to do with health, that's one major

reason along with the exorbitant price of prescription drugs that the U.S. is ranked 37th in the World in regards to our health care system despite the fact that we spend more than any other nation on health care.

Globally, health care spending has increased dramatically since 1980. However, while health care spending increased faster than the economic growth in the late 1990s and early 2000s, it slowed with the onset of the recession in 2009. Based on a recent report, the countries spending the most on health care today allocate between 8.9% and 16.4% of their total gross domestic product (GDP) to health care costs.

Based on "Health at a Glance 2015" from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), 24/7 Wall St. reviewed annual per capita health care expenditures in countries around the world. The United States spends about $8,713 per person on health care annually, by far the most of any country in the world. By contrast, many countries, including Turkey and India, spend less than $1,000 on health care per person annually.

Health care expenditures cover a wide range of areas, from medical practitioner salaries and costly medical procedures, to pharmaceutical products and hospital administration. Each of these areas also call for varying amounts of resources. Pharmaceutical costs are a major component of overall spending. According to the report, OECD nations spent a combined $800 billion on pharmaceuticals alone in 2013, or about 20% of all health spending.

(snip)

Though the United States spends far more on health care than any other nation, life expectancy of the average American is only 78.8 years, lower than the OECD average and the lowest among the top spending nations. Lifestyle choices in the country may be partially to blame. Slightly more than 35% of American adults are obese, a higher share than in any of the 43 countries the OECD reviewed.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2015/11/14/24-7-wall-st-countries-spend-most-health-care/75771044/

There are other factors as well, our lifestyle; high obesity rates, smoking etc. but I would contend economic stress aggravates some of those dynamics as well.

Peace to you, 99th_Monkey.