I suppose it's better than getting rejected for treatment. Or having a huge out-of-pocket co-pay. Or having to fight each bill that comes through that claims

I suppose it's better than getting rejected for treatment. Or having a huge out-of-pocket co-pay. Or having to fight each bill that comes through that claims insufficient coverage--a single hospital stay a while back resulted in 42 separate bills! Look, with a limited supply of money, care will always be rationed at some point. Rationing hip replacements so that truly urgent healthcare can be administered with less rationing seems to me to be a better alternative to the US system, where even people with "good" healthcare coverage end up going bankrupt when dealing with severe illness.