Yeah they are. Americans engage in more unhealthy eating, crime, and drug use than Australians. It’s very easy for me to believe that they’re 3 times as sick.
Australia is very close behind the US in obesity and illicit drug use.
Side note: I'm an Australian citizen, living in the States.
An Australian hospital doesn't need a billing/collections department and the docs don't sit on appeals calls with insurance; when my wife broke her foot visiting, they basically didn't know how to bill her (for surgery and three days in a ward!). My son needed a badly ingrown toenail treated on a separate visit there last year; they just treated it and sent us on our way, no charge, despite his being a tourist.
> I didn’t say obesity, I said unhealthy eating. Those aren’t the same thing.
Australians eat a substantially similar diet to Americans, and have similar health issues (obesity, heart disease, etc.) as a result. They are deeply related things.
> I straight up don’t believe the drug use one, we have way more fentalyl deaths than you and it’s not even close.
Gee, I wonder if not having healthcare (including access to things like therapy and rehab) might drive up drug death rates.
> You didn’t address crime.
Sure; you didn't address how it's responsible for 3x the healthcare costs.
