The US subsidizes drug development, that's about all. Other medical R&D doesn't really come out of any publicly funded research system, it comes from medical pr

The US subsidizes drug development, that's about all. Other medical R&D doesn't really come out of any publicly funded research system, it comes from medical practitioners. The cost of US drug development subsidy is maybe $40 billion, accounting for basic research and development by pharmaceutical companies. This is pretty much peanuts compared to global healthcare spending. Also, this money is arguably not really that well spent, since most of drug development is useless, and nations can improve their health systems and outcomes much more through things like routine care and monitoring than they will through expensive research.