Is the NHS really the envy of the world?

Wikipedia has produced a list of countries by life expectancy that puts Britain's NHS in perspective.

Apparently, the 'best healthcare system in the world' only ranks 19 overall, that's rank 15 for men with a life expectancy of 81 years and a lowly rank of 22 for women with a life expectancy of 83 years.

Overall rank	Country	Overall life expectancy	Male rank	Male life expectancy	Female rank	Female life expectancy
2	Singapore	83	5	80	4	85
19	United Kingdom	81	15	79	22	83

Furthermore, Wikipedia's list of countries by total health expenditure purchasing power parity (PPP) per capita shows that Singapore spends only 4.5% GDP per capita to achieve overall world rank 2 in life expectancy, while Britain spends more than double that, at 9.6% GDP per capita, to achieve a lowly overall world rank 19.

Rank	Country	Total health expenditure per capita PPP Int.$	Total health expenditure % of GDP
16	United Kingdom	3,433	9.6
28	Singapore	2,592	4.5

Hmmmmm... I wonder what accounts for these differences?

Could it be the free market?

Well, sort of. You see, while Singapore funds its single payer healthcare system through taxation, as does the UK, provision is by the free market.

So! next time someone, possibly a healthcare worker, complains of 'creeping privatization', and that this means the existing provision, with the existing costs, PLUS the addition of profits for fat-cat capitalists at the expense of the sick and disabled, mention Singapore. Just make sure you are wearing padded clothing and ear defenders lol.