I'd really encourage you to read through the first link because it goes into very careful detail. But the point is there's nothing unusual about America's high spending given its very high income levels. In particular look at this chart from the source.[1]
Let's use France as a comparison point since you mentioned it. Household disposable income in the US is about 36% higher than France. That's about equivalent to the wealth gap between France and Slovenia. The US spends about 70% more per hospital stay than France, and very similarly that's almost the exact same spending gap between France and Slovenia.
The point being it's easy to ask "why does the US spend more than Western Europe?" But, analogously you should also ask "why does Western Europe spend more than Southern and Eastern Europe"? And the most clear answer is because wealthier countries tend to spend a higher percent of their income on healthcare.
> Household disposable income in the US is about 36% higher than France
I've seen the prices of procedures and drugs in France and in the United States (that is, before insurance, because no-one really worries about the price of healthcare in France given you get reimbursed more the more expensive your procedures are, which is how things are supposed to be), and it's definitely not 36% more expensive. Everything is at least 10 times more expensive.
Let's use France as a comparison point since you mentioned it. Household disposable income in the US is about 36% higher than France. That's about equivalent to the wealth gap between France and Slovenia. The US spends about 70% more per hospital stay than France, and very similarly that's almost the exact same spending gap between France and Slovenia.
The point being it's easy to ask "why does the US spend more than Western Europe?" But, analogously you should also ask "why does Western Europe spend more than Southern and Eastern Europe"? And the most clear answer is because wealthier countries tend to spend a higher percent of their income on healthcare.
[1] https://i0.wp.com/randomcriticalanalysis.com/wp-content/uplo...