> People in the US die earlier than in any other first world country

The causes of death might not be the healthcare system ,no? What if the majority of these deaths are caused by bad diets and stress? Would you blame the healthcare system for it?

(I didn't mean to derail this thread, but want to answer you anyway)

You're right, one can't isolate one institution for topics as complex as these. I'm pretty sure it plays a role, though, as (ignoring fundamental differences in poverty rates, workplace regulations etc.) many countries employ the healthcare system to inform the population about healthy eating and offer incentives and free courses for coping with stress. Thats the beauty of a single payer system: Beyond ethics, the healthcare system has an intrinsic interest to prevent the preventable, as that is almost universally cheaper than bearing the cost of circulatory disorders later.

Bang on about the incentives part. I don't quite know about the healthcare system in the US but don't they have incentives to prevent diseases?

I'm just another armchair economist, but in a market based system the risk IMO is that the insuree grabs the preventive offers from insurer A and a few years later wanders off to a competitor with cheaper rates for that age bracket. So insurer A has no real incentive to prevent illnesses because in the long term, all insurees will switch anyway.