>SNIP
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>>He would have died much earlier if he was living in the US because he did not have the money to pay healthcare.
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>You don't know that for certain. Medicare is not only provided to patients over age 65, but also those who have end-stage kidney disease or those designated as disabled by the Social Security Administration.
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>In 1972, Congress passed legislation making people of any age with permanent kidney failure eligible for Medicare, a program that helps people over 65 and people with disabilities pay for medical care, usually up to 80 percent. Other public and private resources can help with the remaining 20 percent. Your dialysis or transplant center has a social worker who can help you locate and apply for financial assistance
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>http://kidney.niddk.nih.gov/kudiseases/pubs/financialhelp/

Yet another difference - this is actually a continuation of my answer to Walter about "system and simplicity".

In a system, as I would imagine it, it wouldn't matter whether it is kidneys or something else; there is no eligibility for particular cases; only in case of cosmetic surgery you may need justification; you don't even pay and apply for reimbursement. You wouldn't need to know whether you're eligible, you wouldn't need help to find anything, wouldn't need help to apply, wouldn't need to apply, wouldn't need financial assistance, and wouldn't miss out on all that because you dare not visit a doctor because you are nearly broke, don't have insurance or aren't sure what does the fine print in your insurance say. Or whether it would be above or below the deductible... none of that. The system would just tell you where to go to be taken care of.

I just don't want to imagine how a person feels when told they have been diagnosed with something really nasty, and then have to wade through a megabyte of fine print legalese. Not simple for a healthy person in their prime, and we expect the ill and elderly to know what to do?