saying "insured for free" is different from 'free healthcare"
first of all free healthcare means if you go on vacation in a different state you can just go to any hospital and not have to check if your covered. you just get treated, no questions asked
also insurance fiddle he actual costs
say a medication costs $1.. insurance companies have deals where they control the 'billing system' of non insured people and try to charge $100 for non insured people. and yet for insured people say the person needs to only pay a small amount of $10.. even when the medication is $1
some non-profit health providers actually are willing to send people on a plane to mexico to buy the medication and fly back because doing so is actually cheaper then having to use the big pharma insurance systems
it does not actually cost $80k for surgery.
think bout it
even if you have a team of 10 people earning $100k a year each working 250 days a year
thats only $400 a day. or $200 for an average 6 hour surgery=$2k full surgical team
equipment and disinfecting is not even $1k so thats $3k
but yep insurance companies will say its $80k and get people to part pay $8k
in short
american insurance is crap. and they make you pay. and if you dont have it they make you pay 10-100x the actual cost
so while you think a $80k uninsured bill for a surgery would cost government $80k. it does not actually cost the hospital nor the government $80 if the government was to cover the costs
so think about that
oh and by the way. dont beleive the 'i am american i want the choice of my healthcare' .. thats false. unless your willing to choose what town/state you are willing to move to. your choice is limited to whatever hospital is cleosest to your home/workplace because in reality thats the hospital your are most likely to get treated at.
also you cant then choose to just go to any random hospital or 'choose your doctor' because you have to be given the one within the contract of the insurance.
so its not a real freedom
in the UK i can go to any hospital. so if i go across the country and have an injury. ill get treated at no cost by the hospital near where i had the injury. no worry about transport no worry about if im covered. if i want to change my family doctor(GP) i can. its as easy as telling the doctors practice that i want to change. thats it. no new contracts or premiums or changes to insurance coverage. i just register at a different practice and that is it