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Comment by ceejayoz | Hacker News Reader

> I didn’t say obesity, I said unhealthy eating. Those aren’t the same thing.

Australians eat a substantially similar diet to Americans, and have similar health issues (obesity, heart disease, etc.) as a result. They are deeply related things.

> I straight up don’t believe the drug use one, we have way more fentalyl deaths than you and it’s not even close.

Gee, I wonder if not having healthcare (including access to things like therapy and rehab) might drive up drug death rates.

> You didn’t address crime.

Sure; you didn't address how it's responsible for 3x the healthcare costs.

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> Australians eat a substantially similar diet to Americans

Sorry I don't believe this

> Gee, I wonder if not having healthcare (including access to things like therapy and rehab) might drive up drug death rates

Lol, yeah that's why we have so many fentanyl addicts, the lack of therapy, I'm sure that's it

> Sure; you didn't address how it's responsible for 3x the healthcare costs.

Gunshot wounds obviously, we have way more guns and gun crime than Australia

> Sorry I don't believe this

Facts don’t require your belief. 30s in an Australian grocery store will have you feeling quite at home.

> Lol, yeah that's why we have so many fentanyl addicts, the lack of therapy, I'm sure that's it

Read again. You cited their deaths, not their drug use. Australia has plenty of drug users!

> Gunshot wounds obviously

You think the US spends 2/3 of its healthcare spend on gunshot wounds, accounting for the difference?

To quote you, “sorry, I don’t believe that”.

Feel free to cite something that proves that Australian diets are similar to American diets. I don’t believe claims made without evidence.

Deaths are pretty much 1:1 with drug use. Us having more fentanyl deaths mean we have more fentanyl users. Feel free to cite something that proves that Australia has the same amount of drug users as the United States.

It’s a contributing factor. Americans consume healthcare at much higher rates for many reasons, some of which I listed above. I’d fully expect Americans to pay more when they consume more.

> Feel free to cite something that proves that Australian diets are similar to American diets. I don’t believe claims made without evidence.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2010-04-14/australian-diet-worse...

https://www.nationalhogfarmer.com/market-news/study-finds-am...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omT2ENVQziM

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/nov/19/austr...

> I don’t believe claims made without evidence.

You're certainly making a few of them!

> Feel free to cite something that proves that Australia has the same amount of drug users as the United States.

https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/illicit-use-of-drugs/illicit...

"According to the 2022–2023 National Drug Strategy Household Survey (NDSHS), an estimated 10.2 million (47%) people aged 14 and over in Australia had illicitly used a drug at some point in their lifetime (including the non-medical use of pharmaceuticals), and an estimated 3.9 million (18%) had used an illicit drug in the previous 12 months."

https://drugabusestatistics.org/

"Among Americans aged 12 years and older… 70.5 million or 24.9% of people 12 and over have used illegal drugs or misused prescription drugs within the last year."

That's broadly quite similar.

> Deaths are pretty much 1:1 with drug use.

You can absolutely reduce drug death rates with safe injection sites, needle programs, narcan distribution, safety education, substance abuse treatment, etc.

> Americans consume healthcare at much higher rates for many reasons, some of which I listed above.

Americans pay substantially more money for the same procedures and medications. Again: THE EXACT SAME THING; no difference in amount or quality consumed, just drastically more money going into corporate pockets.

https://nypost.com/2025/08/07/world-news/doctor-exposes-shoc...

"Atorvastatin, a medication to lower cholesterol and prevent cardiovascular disease, is priced as little as A$6.70 for 30 tablets in Australia, compared to US$2,628 for Americans."

"However, the biggest shock was Sofosbuvir, which treats hepatitis C, with a 12-week treatment roughly costing an eyewatering US$84,000 without insurance and discounts. Meanwhile, it costs about $31 for a packet of 28 in Australia on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS)."

Yes, but there is a major gotcha in fixing this.

It "costs" much less--because in reality we end up footing the R&D bill. The drug companies tolerate sales to the UHC countries so long as it's above their marginal cost. If US customers were also paying $31 for that Sofosbuvir there's no way the company would recoup costs and they would not develop it.

Fixing this will cause big shakeups in the universal coverage systems and thus big political shakeups. It should be done, but gradually.

I will also say the comparison is false--my wife is on Atorvastatin, it's even less than what you are quoting for Australia. You're comparing the brand name with the generic.

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