In Belgium, you are charged based on your income, and they don't ask you how much you can pay when you get admitted.
As US ex-pats, we made enough money that we were in the top payment bracket.
Yet, for a significant surgery that kept my wife in the hospital in a private room for two weeks, we still paid less for the whole surgery plus hospital room WITHOUT insurance, than we would have paid in the US but with insurance.
That kind of social medicine does actually work, and work pretty well.
There is a large number of people who can't afford to buy a washing machine but it's not most people.
Wrong, income distribution isn't normal, it's bottom-heavy, and most people are well below the mean.
Exactly. In 2015, most (50.08666%) wage earners earned less that $30,000/year.
While it isn't a majority, the fact that 3-in-10 (29.72726%) earn less than $15,000/year is a travesty.
> most people pay most of the cost for normal healthcare costs like going to the doctor for a checkup, most of the cost for one of things like a broken leg
Most people are poor. Wealthy people are the exception and most people would not be able to pay for even the simplest procedures.
They typically can't pay for a new washing machine if their current one breaks down.