Personal anecdote... My uncle is an auto mechanic in Scotland (Scottish NHS) and my brother-in-law is an auto mechanic in WV, USA.

Both have similar health care outcomes - they have ready access to quality care, specialists, etc. ER/A&E is available. The biggest difference is the perceived cost and stress incurred by that cost. My uncle doesn't give much thought to health care - he can work, retire, whatever and be assured a reasonable level of care. My BIL will work to 65 or beyond, fighting red-tape the entire time, then retire and still have to deal with supplemental programs.

Looking at another uncle, who was a small business owner in Scotland vs my father (also small business owner), it's similar to above, just with more money at stake. Uncle also purchased additional insurance on top of NHS for faster access to selective care, still cost less than insurance in the US, even after accounting for tax differences.

American's kid themselves when they say the Western Europe has higher taxes. Once you account for medical care, college funding, and other similar things, it's pretty close.

So we do better at actually delivering care, they do better at getting it delivered to everyone.

I think this difference mostly disappears if you group Americans by wealth. So wealthy Americans have similar life expectancies to those in other countries. It's really the poor that are most affected by our dystopian healthcare system, which is probably a big part of why it never gets fixed.