I think the issue is just too complicated to draw conclusions from broad inter-countries comparisons. I find the Japanese system terrible - I have been living t

I think the issue is just too complicated to draw conclusions from broad inter-countries comparisons. I find the Japanese system terrible - I have been living there for 7 years and I have yet encountered a foreigner coming from a rich country who thinks the system is good. The problem with comparing global stats like cancer survival rates is their weak correlation with the health care system. For example, the reason why colon/rectal cancer survival rate is high is because Japan is basically the only rich country where those cancers are the most common one (in other rich countries, prostate, breast, lungs usuallly come first for the concerned sex). There is also the issue of "free-ride", where most western countries benefit from research being done in the US and a couple other countries - which is not so easy to quantify either. Designing good indicators is incredibly hard, and for that reason alone I think it will always be a political question first, and an economical one second (i.e. economics can help making a decision, but it won't give you the decision).