We shouldn't expect outcomes to be much different, because when someone gets cancer in the rich world, they get treated with whatever medical science thinks is

We shouldn't expect outcomes to be much different, because when someone gets cancer in the rich world, they get treated with whatever medical science thinks is best. Contrast that with an ordinary purchase like a washing machine. What's left when you're definitely going to buy the Cadillac is that the price depends on how much money you have, and Americans tend to be wealthy. It also depends on factors relating to restriction of competition. If there's only so many doctors, which is the case because they restrict how many can be trained, doctors can extract more. Add to that the fear of litigation (friend dated a girl whose father made a living suing US doctors) and they end up spending money on tests that they wouldn't in the rest of the west. Possibly collective purchasing in national systems means something too, not sure.