Given that. I don't understand how the US can fight a viral epidemic.
You have the best medical services in the world; but if a significant part of the population is not going to use that because of the threat of financial ruin, then you are never going to get on top of an epidemic.
We don’t have the best medical in the world. That’s just marketing.
A doctor in the US can prescribe an expensive medication or a generic, but they are completely unable to inform you of the price difference. And their employer is contractually prevented from posting the prices that an insured patient would pay. American patients probably suffer as much from dealing with errors in hospital bills, debt collections, insurance companies denying claims, etc as they do from disease. And our health care system is entirely fee-for-service rather than optimized for outcomes. Doctors may be idealistic, but I don’t see how they can do more good than harm in our current parasitic industry.
Depends on how you grade "best medical in the world." If it's how many people are covered and how easy it is to access healthcare, it's pretty low. If it's access the specialists and quality care, regardless of cost, it's top of the world easily. Problem is that only makes a difference for rich people.
The best medical service is also an affordable one.
That aside, I see a lot of health operation shopping to Leuven ( Belgium), but I have never met someone doing a surgery at the US because "they are the best", so I don't agree with your standpoint.
With a sane government they might agree to pick up the COVID costs as I think is mostly happening in the rest of the world. Though with the current lot I worry it'll be a mess.
You have the best medical services in the world; but if a significant part of the population is not going to use that because of the threat of financial ruin, then you are never going to get on top of an epidemic.