Don't forget that US spends more money on healthcare than any other country. (2009 they spent 17.4% GDP, or $7960 per person.)
Despite spending that money you have an unhealthy population (obesity especially a problem); not many doctors (2.4 per 1000 population, fewer than anywhere else except Japan).
Brand name meds are more expensive. The top 30 drugs are more than twice the price in the US than in the UK.
The US does a lousy job of handling long term illness. Preventable mortality among asthma sufferers between 5 and 39 are high, as are lower limb amputations for diabetics. (And diabetes is a considerable problem because of the amount of obesity.)
People often mention excessive spending in US hospitals - lots of high tech equipment, good doctors, many tests, etc. US hospitals are more expensive than many other countries. US doctors get paid more than non-US colleagues (but this is the same for other high-paid workers in different industries.) US hospitals are more expensive even though the stays are shorter. What do you get for this money?
The US does do a good job with some cancers - survival rates for breast cancer are very good. Expensive hospitals don't seem to be working in other areas - people with heart attacks are more than twice as likely to have bypass surgery or angioplasty if they're in the US than in Canada; but there's little evidence that US patients live longer. And some cancers (cervical) have poor outcomes in the US compared to other countries.
Of course, collecting the money that people have to pay also costs money. The US has a high number of admin workers (2.2 per office based doctor). Collecting revenue was estimated to cost 12% of revenue by one doctor group.
The US spends 50% more per person than the next highest spending countries, and more than double of most countries.
I'm not saying that US healthcare is great. I'm saying that having a weak economy and spending 30% of GDP is the definite way to disaster. See, the difference is not in the quality, but in the fact that US (inefficiently) spends money that it has (well, borrowed from China, but who cares, China doesn't), while Greece spends money which it hasn't. While having an overall (from the glance of the beholder) better health "climate" (obesity seems to be a nonissue in Southern Europe, red wine and olive oil makes wonders compared to HFCS, chips and beer).
I live in Bay Area, buy organic food and all that, but still can't get used to how sweet is everything sweet is in the US.
I owe you a million dollars, is it my problem? Yes, it is, you can sue me, you can take my home, my car, etc. I can go bankrupt, I will never see the light of the credit card again in 7 years, etc.
Who can sue US of A and send it to bankruptcy? Make it sell the 5th fleet to Iran to cover the portion of the debt? I'm not saying that 15 trillion debt is good or bad, I'm just saying that dividing it by population and coming up with a $50k figure is a propaganda. If I'm a US citizen and have $5k in credit card debt it doesn't mean that my debt is now $55K. These are two different debts.
Thanks for asking, btw, I knew it is bad, but I never even thought it is THAT bad.
http://video.minpress.gr/wwwminpress/aboutgreece/aboutgreece... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Security_(United_States)