You're right. Historically, a significant amount of medical innovation came from the US due to the gross abuse of the US taxpayer.

> If the world’s largest health economy limited drug companies to “fair” returns — as other countries try to — then few new drugs would be created.

This simply isn't true as peacetime modern governments are continually turning on the tap for medical and health research, with little to no impact on the public system:

https://vantagemedtech.com/what-country-leads-the-world-in-m...

Both you and the article you linked seem to work off the assumption that nobody would have filled the void without the US. But motivation is reduced when someone else is doing the work for you.