Over my career, I am upside-down on my healthcare costs to the tune of six figures - and that's after kidney stone surgery some years back...) I think I'll pass on succumbing to cancer to try to recover a bit more, though...
You’ve just described insurance. If everyone took more than they used, it wouldn’t work.
It's not pre-paid care. It's not a discount plan. Really, it's a gamble.
Health insurance is ridiculously expensive because health care can become ridiculously expensive. Sure, you're healthy and accident-free, but the costs of a traumatic accident or long-term illness could easily reach 6, possibly even 7 figures in the long term. That's what your insurance is paying for.
For any type of insurance to work, you need people that aren't making claims to fund the people that are making claims. If you take the attitude of "Why should my premiums pay for someone else's care?", then really there's no reason to even get insurance. Your insurance is costing $25K/year, because statistically, the average family has at least $20K in healthcare costs per year (Assuming the insurance company is satisfying the ACA requirement of 80% of premiums must go to paying for care).
Your $25K/year in premiums is a bet that you won't need some $Y to pay for healthcare, where $Y >>> $25K. Most of the time, you're losing that bet, and the insurer is making $25K off of you. But if you ever find yourself in a world of hurt (quite literally), you'll be glad you made the bet.
Imagine an alternative world where health insurance acts more like a mortgage with an amortization schedule. when youre young (and have low savings) your premiums act like they do now - simple insurance. But as you age, your payments are split gradually between pure premium and an HSA. The amount you’re personally liable for increases as you age, but so does your ability to pay out of pocket. For high earners this scheme makes a lot more sense (because youll have a few hundred thousand in health savings by retirement).
Most people actually do the above but clumsily and also in the opposite order - HDHP plans are more broadly useful when youre young and healthy because you probably wont have high medical costs so you just save on premiums.
This world could be disastrous.
Imagine your entire savings wiped out by a single incident. Though this already happens in the current world.
Also, that world would simply not work for low earners.
My health insurance is not free (it is taxed as a separate social tax) but it is way, way less than this.
There is still one important disclaimer to add. Because very good niche doctors who can perform very specific rare procedures can charge a lot more in US then it can happen that these doctors will emigrate to US from EU and it is possible but not necessarily true that this kind of very expensive insurance could cover such procedures and make them more available for US insurers than for EU insurers (e.g. tax payers).
Or, alternately, look up the word “insurance” and realize what its purpose is.