“ "Then I found out that this other country — which I thought had a healthcare system that was so superior to the U.S. — doesn't test for the tumour marker that saved my life, and doesn't cover this drug that is responsible for pushing my cancer into remission after traditional chemotherapy failed to do that."”
"... and then I found out that this other country - which I thought had the best healthcare system in the world - allowed for-profit insurance companies to dictate what treatment would be paid for, and allowed millions of people without insurance to likely go without any sort of test for cancer at all."
I'm not sure I'd feel better with the explanation "No, we won't pay to cure your cancer, but hey, if you were in the US there is a chance they won't pay for it either!"
Pretty sure I'd prefer even a 5% chance versus a guaranteed 0%.
Legit every major drug company would give you the drug in question for free, not to mention Medicaid, which if you can't afford 7k, you would easily qualify for.
As a Canadian: yes.
And the bill was $0 at the end of my father's heart bypass and valve replacement surgery. My friend's sister cancer treatment also had a bill of $0.
Finished filing my taxes last month, and my average rate (provincial+federal) for last year was 21%. Happy to pay.