I have visited California several times for work (and tourism) and I tend to hang out on forums where most of the users are from the US. And now I live in Japan, which helps me to have an "external view" on my own European culture.

One of the things that surprised me the most the first time I visited the US was one particular conversation with a sensible, well educated person. She literally told me:

"I don't care if someone is not able to pay to a medical treatment. If that person didn't plan well their life, is their mistake. I am not going to pay the medical costs for them."

Of course, this is just one person, but my feeling is that this a predominant way of thinking in the US.