We owe it to people to give them human dignity up to, and including, their last breath. Anything short of this is crass, careless, and evil. The West has always tended to value human life more so than other cultures, but in the last couple of decades, we have devolved horribly on this point.
When my first wife died of cancer, I did ridiculous amounts of research into costs. Pharmaceutical companies are utterly shams. They may make life-saving drugs, but at what cost? I learned that they intentionally manufacture as cheaply as possible and charge as much as possible. Look at the recent shamelessness with the Epi pens. Those cost very little to make. They would still see a profit at $20.
When my wife died, the chemo she was getting was $12k for a 500ml bag. Cost to manufacture? Less than $100. That is not a profit, that is outright effing theft.
LOL, I guess all that colonialism, looting, and wars were for the benefit of the natives.
Did you live in Switzerland? Doctors make a nice salary, many hospitals are private, yet the system seems to work well (from what my friends who live there are telling me).
> When a cancer patient is literally refused treatment because a) their "health insurance" runs out or b) they cannot afford to pay, the system is morally bankrupt.
Then every system is morally bankrupt.
We have to face the facts: resources aren't infinite, tradeoffs are necessary, and we can't help everyone. That's why even most "socialized medicine" has limitations and restrictions about what kinds of treatments they offer and to whom (e.g. you can't get a free breast scan every year).