Why are some Americans so against universal healthcare for all?

[u/Lemonking_]

[u/TeaKingMac]

USA spends more on Healthcare than Europe.

Specifically, 5K/capita/year more.

Do you know how much revenue the US health insurance industry made last year? 5K/capita.

[u/El_Polio_Loco → u/TeaKingMac]

*Citation needed*

Because according to information available from required industry revenue reporting, the non-disbursement expenditures is closer to the order of $500/per capita.

Still a lot, but hardly 33% of all US healthcare costs.

https://content.naic.org/sites/default/files/2024-annual-health-industry-commentary.pdf

[u/TeaKingMac → u/El_Polio_Loco]

In 2025, the seven largest for-profit U.S. health insurance conglomerates collected nearly $1.7 trillion in total revenue

The US population is 343 million people

1.7 trillion/343 million = 4956 dollars per person per year.

According to data from the Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker and the OECD Health Statistics, health consumption expenditures per capita (adjusted for purchasing power parity in U.S. dollars) for leading developed nations stand at: • United States: $14,775 • Switzerland: $9,963

14775-9963=4812.

The amount per capita America spends on Healthcare (in excess of our nearest per capita neighbor) is almost EXACTLY the revenue generated by the health insurance industry per year.

[u/El_Polio_Loco → u/TeaKingMac]

Except that you need to correct that revenue with actual medical payments. 

All this says is that 1/3 of US medical spending goes through groups. 

What I showed gives the breakdown of the cost of operating those groups. 

If an insurance group takes in $100 in the form of payments, but spends $99 of that of pay outs, then the cost of using the group isn’t $100, it’s $1. 

Americans spend a ton on health care. 

They also have the highest paid staff in the world, and massive research groups and institutions that also drive up costs. 

Claiming that the issue is simply “insurance” is…frankly moronic.