> we use our taxes to ... sick ... disease The US pays as much in tax for nationally provided healthcare as % of GDP as does most of the OECD. The difference i

> we use our taxes to ... sick ... disease The US pays as much in tax for nationally provided healthcare as % of GDP as does most of the OECD. The difference is healthcare costs twice as much here, so the govt ends up paying about half the cost through taxes. For example, Sweden pays ~$5500 (PPP) per capita. US spends ~$10,209. US Medicare and Medicaid paid out about $1.3T, private healthcare paid about $1.2T. So we're paying the same tax towards healthcare as most of the OECD. The healthcare angle is not the difference in taxation between the countries. The underlying costs are the difference, represented at every level here, from nurse and doctor salaries to drug costs to administrative costs to legislative costs.