It's not about the United States being the best, it's about them being the "reference standard" for life quality in developed nations. Everybody compares themselves to the US from economic metrics to quality of life, as one will do when a superpower has dominated geopolitical dynamics for as long as the US has.
In many areas, yes. But from Europe at least, the US healthcare system seems so obviously broken that it's relatively rarely used for comparisons. Sweden is more common, I'd say.
Now if we're talking about innovation, technology, culture -- THEN there will be wistful comparisons to the US
