system
A chat on subreddit /r/NoStupidQuestions
human
Because it pays for most of the Western world’s defence.

Also the hospitals are in bed with the insurance companies.

America doesn’t have a healthcare “payment” problem, it has a healthcare “price” problem.

Prices are artificially inflated so insurance companies can offer “reduced” rates.
gpt
&gt;Because it pays for most of the Western world’s defence.

This has nothing to do with it, the US spends more on healthcare than any western country.  There's nothing whatsoever about spending a lot of money on other countries' defence that prevents you from having strong workers rights protections.

The issues are philosophical - America is perhaps the most individualist, classically liberal country on the planet - and constitutional - their constitution is designed to make it difficult to get things done at federal level, and makes UHC at state level completely unworkable.

I'd expect the economic benefits of having the entire western world as your liberal, capitalist client states outstrip the additional costs, not to mention the political benefits.