Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas and thanks to socialized medicine. The U.S. spent $5 trillion on health care last year, according to new federal data. Unfortunately, the quality of care is worse than other countries that spend less.

The U.S. spends about twice as much per person as other wealthy nations. Americans are less healthy than many of those countries’ populations.

The federal government pays the biggest share of health care bills, at $1.6 trillion last year. But almost as much — $1.3 trillion — comes directly out of Americans’ pockets and paychecks.