<<Sirs addressed your second point; as a free society, we allow people to do stupid things that shorten their lifespans. >>
THAT is exactly what's wrong with you. If you can write the guy off as "stupid" then you don't have to take care of him when he "fucks up." NEWSFLASH: a lot of people DON'T know how to take care of their health. It doesn't help that the billion-dollar food industry, due to their fucking greed and devotion to the bottom line and "free market" competitive ethics, load their foods with all kinds of unhealthy crap like sodium and trans-fats to increase market share, followed up by billions of dollars spent on advertising and billions more on corrupting the legislature so it won't stop their life-threatening greed. It doesn't help that business pollutes the air and the water with carcinogenic toxins. Then people who ought to know better look at the victims and say, well, we aren't responsible for their bad luck/stupidity in looking after themselves badly. We aren't responsible that they didn't squander the last few pennies they had left from their wage slavery to enrich the billionaires of the health care industry so that they could be "insured" against events which every civilized country accepts as a national responsibility.
We take care of ALL our citizens, because ALL of them have the right to the best health care that our society can afford to provide to everyone regardless of wealth. We don't write off anyone because of his or her "stupidity" in health habits, as if the effects of stupidity and luck could be distinguished.
<<Also, I pointed out earlier that there are plenty of regions within the US where life expectancy exceeds that of Canada (Minnesota, for example), why can't Canada keep up?>>
Well, if you want to cherry-pick by region, how does Minnesota stack up against the GTA (Greater Toronto Area?) What's the point of cherry-picking by good, healthy regions? Why not pick the rural and urban slums? How does Mississippi stack up against Oakville, Ontario (a wealthy enclave?) The comparisons are ridiculous. Basically indicating that the poorer areas of America are second-class citizens, not to be included in the national average because they drag it down.