> As for why the US spends more than any other country: it's due to an overabundance of caution among the comfortably insured. It's much easier to get a variety of expensive (and often unnecessary) tests and scans (such as MRI scans) in the US.
Countries with universal healthcare also tend to have private health companies which can provide tests and scans at a higher speed, either on an insured or a pay-as-you use basis, typically at much lower costs than the US. Yet there doesn't seem to be the same "overabundance of caution" elsewhere. To the extent that precautionary procedures are responsible for high US spend, I don't think that can be decoupled from a system designed to ensure that primary healthcare providers are sales outlets for those procedures.
Countries with universal healthcare also tend to have private health companies which can provide tests and scans at a higher speed, either on an insured or a pay-as-you use basis, typically at much lower costs than the US. Yet there doesn't seem to be the same "overabundance of caution" elsewhere. To the extent that precautionary procedures are responsible for high US spend, I don't think that can be decoupled from a system designed to ensure that primary healthcare providers are sales outlets for those procedures.