They say US has the best (most advanced) health care technology but not the most affordable or even effective (in that Americans don't have the longest life expectancy).
You are making the implicit assumption that health care is a major driver of life expectancy. In reality, it isn't.
Consider a (virtual) country with the exact same [1] health care system as the US: Asian America, a land comprised entirely of Asian Americans. In this imaginary land, women have a life expectancy of 85.8, making Asian America #2 in the world for life expectancy (between Japan and Hong Kong), in spite of having the same health care system as the US.
That shouldn't be possible if health care is the primary driver of life expectancy.
You are making the implicit assumption that health care is a major driver of life expectancy. In reality, it isn't.
Consider a (virtual) country with the exact same [1] health care system as the US: Asian America, a land comprised entirely of Asian Americans. In this imaginary land, women have a life expectancy of 85.8, making Asian America #2 in the world for life expectancy (between Japan and Hong Kong), in spite of having the same health care system as the US.
That shouldn't be possible if health care is the primary driver of life expectancy.
http://minorityhealth.hhs.gov/templates/browse.aspx?lvl=2...
(I couldn't find the stats for men in 2 minutes of googling.)
[1] Actually, it's not exactly the same. Asian Americans are less likely to have health insurance.