> It's not that health care here is bad, it's that it's ridiculously expensive compared to most other places in the world.

Sure, but the average American also gets paid $20k more than the average Brit, on average.

That doesn't matter for this discussion, because the average American spends way more on healthcare as a percentage of their income than the average European.

~25% of the federal budget goes to medicare and medicaid, i.e. healthcare for other people. On top of that, you're paying for your own medical insurance as an implicit deduction on your salary for your employer-sponsored healthcare plan, or you just pay for your plan directly if you're self-employed.

Those percentages add up.

Whereas in the UK, or in Sweden where I'm from, you only pay once through your taxes for healthcare for everyone, including yourself.

On top of that, copays are higher in the US, annual deductibles are much higher, procedures are much more expensive, medication is much more expensive. Healthcare in the US is simply disproportionally more expensive than in the rest of the world, as a percentage of people's income, and as a percentage of GDP. It's got nothing to do with salary levels.

The medium income is about $48k vs £38k which is much more realistic than averages when a select few make millions per year. Healthcare costs can easily exceed this difference.

We spend over $30k annually just on premiums. On top of that, we pay for most doctor visits, tests, prescriptions and procedures out of pocket.

Edit: everything we pay out of pocket we can deduct from our taxable income (it's an HSA plan), but still.