[heavyset_go]

Everyone knows that "free" healthcare means that it's still being paid for via taxes, so points like this aren't exactly insightful. The OP's point was that their care cost them nothing to utilize or receive, not that there aren't costs in the system at all. Nobody actually believes that doctors are working for free, that assumption would be a strawman.

[AvocadoPanic]

If you don't pay the bill, it doesn't cost you anything either.

I'm not sure everyone knows there's a no free healthcare, we may move in different cicles.

Having lived with socialized healthcare and still paying private insurance in order to access expedient, competent, comfortable care is especially frustrating.

[heavyset_go]

> If you don't pay the bill, it doesn't cost you anything either.

In the US, you won't get the chance to have a bill, because you will be denied care if you're unable to pay for the care or are uninsured. The one exception to this is that emergency rooms are obligated to stabilize patients in crisis, but that type of care is limited. For example, they'll patch you up if you get stabbed and then send you a bill for it, but nobody is getting treatment for non-acute emergencies, like chronic conditions, or the insulin they need to survive diabetes, or life-saving chemo or radiation therapy for cancer.

Your creditors might feel differently about bills not costing you anything when they take you to court to collect on your debt. Those bills might cost you your savings, income and/or assets.