This is only true for a fraction of all healthcare that’s actually consumed. For my family, over past 4 years, maybe 10% of our healthcare consumption carried a significant risk of death if we elected to not consume it.
As an explicit example, my wife took our infant daughter to a doctor the other day, because she was coughing and sneezing for a week already, and she wanted him to confirm that it’s most likely nothing to worry about. The doctor agreed. Insurance was billed $200, with $10 paid by us out of pocket. If we had to pay $200 out of pocket, we’d probably wait another week (and ended up not paying anything at all, because the coughing indeed disappeared before the end of the second week).
As an explicit example, my wife took our infant daughter to a doctor the other day, because she was coughing and sneezing for a week already, and she wanted him to confirm that it’s most likely nothing to worry about. The doctor agreed. Insurance was billed $200, with $10 paid by us out of pocket. If we had to pay $200 out of pocket, we’d probably wait another week (and ended up not paying anything at all, because the coughing indeed disappeared before the end of the second week).