If you want to be seen immediately (even when triage determines it not necessary) you can just supplement with private insurance

That may be your experience, and I’m sorry to hear it, but that is not the universal experience.

I’m in the hospital right now. My two year old had her tonsils and adenoids out this morning. Regular Dr visit lead to an X-ray on the same day, specialist appointment 3 weeks later, surgery 2 months later (would have been one month, but we pushed it back because timing and life).

Just talking about how my wife is coming off 18 months of maternity leave. Before that she quit and just didn’t work for 3 years because burn out. I’ve been self employed for 10 years earning about $20k a year.

This whole thing cost us exactly nothing. Would be the same if we’d never had jobs.

Mum got stage 4 cancer in another country where she lived. 2.5 years of radiation, chemo, X-rays, mri, and dozens and dozens of specialist appointments (which she got paid for transit and free accommodation in the capital city) not to mention the mountains of serious drugs.

Total cost $0.

Anyone that argues against this is either not very intelligent (easily manipulated by the propaganda) or does not want to help others (“freeloaders”), or is getting rich from the status quo.

And yet that's exactly my experience in the US healthcare system.