There’s also a big caveat to Singapore’s success. It has a significant and officially recognized guest worker program of noncitizens. About 1.4 million foreigners work in Singapore, most in low-skilled, low-paying jobs. Such jobs come with some protections, and are often better than what might be available in workers’ home countries, but these workers are also vulnerable to abuse.

Guest workers are not eligible for the same benefits (including access to the public health system beyond emergency services) that citizens or permanent residents are, and they aren’t counted in any metrics of success or health. Clearly this saves money and also clouds the ability to use data to evaluate outcomes.

Things to like, for the left and right

The government’s health care philosophy is laid out clearly in five objectives.

In the United States, conservatives may be pleased that one objective stresses personal responsibility and cautions against reliance on either welfare or medical insurance. Another notes the importance of the private market and competition to improve services and increase efficiency.

Liberal-leaning Americans might be impressed that one objective is universal basic care and that another goal is cost containment by the government, especially when the market fails to keep costs low enough.

Singapore appreciates the relative strengths and limits of the public and private sectors in health. Often in the United States, we think that one or the other can do it all. That’s not necessarily the case.

Dr. Jeremy Lim, a partner in Oliver Wyman’s Asia health care consulting practice based in Singapore and the author of one of the seminal books on its health care system, said, “Singaporeans recognize that resources are finite and that not every medicine or device can be funded out of the public purse.”

He added that a high trust in the government “enables acceptance that the government has worked the sums and determined that some medicines and devices are not cost-effective and hence not available to citizens at subsidized prices.”