> Which is probably the cause for the majority of chronic healthcare spending.
I doubt it's a _huge_ factor, honestly. The fatter Western European nations (UK and Ireland, for instance) don't have unduly expensive systems; Ireland spends about 5k per capita, the UK about $4k per capita. Much thinner France spends $4.6k.
Now, France _does_ outperform both the UK and Ireland on most metrics, but not by a huge amount.
I doubt it's a _huge_ factor, honestly. The fatter Western European nations (UK and Ireland, for instance) don't have unduly expensive systems; Ireland spends about 5k per capita, the UK about $4k per capita. Much thinner France spends $4.6k.
Now, France _does_ outperform both the UK and Ireland on most metrics, but not by a huge amount.