The US system is probably more efficient if you consider it as a market for individual choice of a subjective nature.
It is inefficient if you consider that even in an era of unprecedented surplus wealth, the insecurities of ill health remain one of the biggest worries that trouble human beings, quite rightly.
There is a major battle about whether consumer capitalism is the answer, which will take some decades to answer, probably because it will also have to be fought out at a global level.
Chris Burford
London