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And of course, as long as you have insurance or piles of cash.

That's an improvement over Canada's system, here we don't have a choice to pay money for important procedures, we just have to do without.

Insurance doesn't stop you from getting care in the US. You also do not get billed preemptively but after the fact.

Providers cannot deny you care for your lack of insurance.

People get denied all the time at the pharmacy for lack of insurance. Without insurance many drugs are simply unaffordable and they get turned away for lack of funds.

Yes, instead they can charge you exorbitant, arbitrary fees and send you into utter bankruptcy.

Sure, depends on the insurance.

>utter bankruptcy.

Not paying your medical debt doesn't necessarily 'send' you to bankruptcy(stays on credit report for 7 years generally, unless enforced by a court order - which it usually doesn't), you have to actually file for it. But we're arguing with semantics so I'll just agree with you.

However, that is not what you said.

Your comment implied that someone has to be approved by insurance to receive treatment, which is not true.

As long as you're not one of the 30 million Americans with no health insurance.