Only a small percentage of the total taxes collected is spent on health care. But let's figure out the answer to your question....

First, here is the total spending on Health care in each country (both government spending and private spending combined):

France - 10.5% of GDP
U.S. - 15.4% of GDP

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Now, here is the government spending only:

France - 8.23% of GDP
U.S. - 6.88% of GDP

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Now here is the GDP per capita in each country:

France - $41,511
U.S. - $45,575

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So now for some simple math:

Total spending annually (both government and private) per person in each country:

France - $4350
U.S. - $7018


And now for government spending only:

France - $3416
U.S. - $3135


So look at this.....even though they have a health care system that covers all of their citizens, has twice as many available hospital beds per capita as we do, their government only spends a tiny bit more on health care than our government does.

To put an actual number on the difference, we are talking $281 per person X 300 million people = $84.3 billion, or roughly the cost of keeping the Iraq war going for about 100 days. Or to put another spin on it, these rebate checks a bunch of us are getting in the mail this year total around $66 billion.

In case you are having trouble understanding why this is the case, here is a hint: Most of the money that we spend on health care does not actually pay for health care, but instead pays for profits being made by all the companies involved in health care (insurance companies, private hospitals, drug companies, etc.). Where as in a socialized system, it is non-profit, so costs are lower.

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time posting in political threads in the lounge...