[unishark]

I don't see that your case has been made. I see more willingness to perform costly interventions as a clear example of how more value is being placed on lives. As for outcomes, you can argue a CYA approach where they try everything they possibly can isn't necessarily more effective, but I disagree that you can dismiss it as proving less value has been placed on life. I also distrust stats about outcomes given how politically charged the topic is. The most obese country in the developed world comes in with a bias towards worse outcomes already.

By the way the vast majority of people who die in the US are an a socialized medicine system at the time (e.g., medicare).

Either way though, yes, of course there's "death panel" behavior or other cost-controls which effectively lead to the same result (e.g. doing harm through inaction rather than direct action), in any system.