I’m only reiterating this because your responses make me think I’m not stating my central claim clearly enough: there is not “a reason” healthcare in the US is expensive. There are multiple, sometimes covariant reasons. Only one of those is drug prices. And if you don’t think pharmaceutical companies impact those other healthcare costs, you may not have a sound understanding of the healthcare system.

Related to your comment about the difficulties in comparison, you underscored my other point. People flippantly say “but look at country X’s costs” without understanding the nuances that make such comparisons worthless.