No hope at all? If I were underinsured or uninsured, I would still have the option of working to get the insurance I need. If I couldn't afford it, I could stil

No hope at all? If I were underinsured or uninsured, I would still have the option of working to get the insurance I need. If I couldn't afford it, I could still ask others to fund me if they were feeling charitable. Overall, there would still be options. Lack of wealth is not an insurmountable barrier. Insofar as the best doctors are concerned, they are pretty much all here in the US. Everyone who matters specializing in my illness is in the US. When I lived abroad, I saw a doctor specializing in my illness and the level of knowledge they had relative to the specialists I've seen in the US was laughable. The only medical care I've had abroad (I've lived on three different continents in my life) that was comparable cost as much as healthcare in the US. There may be a few countries that are exceptions in terms of the socialized medical care available, but I would be surprised if any were as genetically heterogenous as the US or had a population even 1/5 of the US. One of the main problems in the US is that there isn't a clear way to compare health insurance policies. You can't exactly go out and say, I want health insurance that covers the 90% of the most likely issues I'd most likely be afflicted with for one price or choose one that covers 99.99% of the things for another price. That lack of comparability and enforcement of payout is what lacks. If these features existed in the market, it would be possible to find insurance at $50 a month all the way to $500 a month. Transparency and comparability would make the market function much better. Something that covers 90% of the things that could go wrong is already way way way better than whatever the richest could afford 50 years ago. Your point about Canada is only worthwhile if another country exists where you want to be treated. If the US socialized medical care and ended up with a system comparable to Canada, all of a sudden that option wouldn't be all that useful because you've lost the best market in the world for providing care that Canada can't. The US subsidizes everyone research on behalf of all people in other countries. Maybe the rest of the world can find it in their heart to help those in the US that lack healthcare instead of lecturing us on how our system is broken when it already does so much for medical progress for the entirety of humanity. Something like 95% of all drugs developed are developed in the US. I went to a university where many of my colleagues went on to join companies that were creating the most advanced medical textiles available, such as artificial aortas and whatnot.