America’s healthcare system runs the gamut from capitalist to socialist, pausing at various points along the way. At the free-market extreme are the 10m people who buy private insurance without a subsidy and the 48m who have none at all. At the collectivised end are 5m military veterans who see government doctors in government hospitals, the 32m covered by Medicare (retirees) and 37m on Medicaid (the poor).

In between are the majority of Americans – the 153m workers and their families – who receive government-subsidised private insurance through their employers.