Below the fold, in one big picture is why healthcare costs so much in the United States (via Barry Ritholtz. Here's a snippet.
See the rest below the fold, including some key myths about Americans. Healthcare isn't so much more expensive here because we're fatter, drink more, smoke more or live longer than anyone else in the world. It's because we have an insanely diversified private approach that drives administrative costs, profit incentives, and ultimately spending ever upward. The Affordable Care Act will help around the edges, but until Congress and the White House are really willing to take on the provider side of the picture—including PhRMA, the hospitals, the device manufacturers as well as physicians—and enact at least a public option if not full-on single payer, healthcare in America will remain absurdly expensive.