:::::PPP is the standard for international comparisons because it smooths out currency distortions.  ITEP is dedicated to promoting tax increases on “the rich” and attacking conservative policies, so it’s fair to call them left wing. Of course the premise that Americans don’t receive timely care and that the alleged discrepancy results in the LE gap is contested.  Do Japanese receive significantly timelier care than Australians and Brits?  What about English versus Scottish? As for “poverty”, even the NIH report (briefly) concedes that Americans have a lower "absolute" poverty rate than Europeans, though it spends far more time obsessing on the absurd Marxist construct of “relative poverty”.  “Relative” poverty increases when, all things being equal, someone else does too well.