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We definitely have safety nets. Ours just cost more and give less.

To be fair we are also a much larger country with more diversity (especially of culture) than many countries with robust social safety nets.

Basically what I want to know is, if I don’t have health insurance through my employer, make $50K a year, and get cancer, what happens? I don’t know for sure but here in the US I’m guessing the answer would be mountains of debt.



> Basically what I want to know is, if I don’t have health insurance through my employer, make $50K a year, and get cancer, what happens? I don’t know for sure but here in the US I’m guessing the answer would be mountains of debt.

You must apply to a charity such as a catholic hospital that provides care for such cases. I know people with expensive conditions that have done this.

If it gets so bad that you become disabled, you can get social security.

If you run up a mountain of debt you can get rid of it (and your credit rating) via bankruptcy.




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