> but europeans still don't have access to a lot of very powerful drugs and procedures that we do.

That's because of the impedence mismatch of legislation in Europe vs the US.

I'd say it's comparable to the story on how US eggs are illegal in Europe, and vice-versa.

https://www.latimes.com/food/dailydish/la-dd-heres-why-we-ne...

I see this kind of arguement a lot. It's also common to read about people traveling abroad to receive better treatment that will save their life.

I'm not sure which anecdotes to believe in this case.

Believe both. The US does some things better, others do other things better. And maybe you get more cutting edge stuff in the US but there is also a big risk to go bankrupt over standard stuff. Having lived in both Germany and US i find the US situation terrifying. If you have a serious health problem in the US it’s a total gamble whether you will go bankrupt or not. And there is no way to avoid that.

Which powerful drugs and procedures are not available in Europe?

I don't know about not being available in all of Europe, but here's a story from the UK a few years ago where a baby had a rare, but easily fixable, heart condition. There were no doctors in the UK who could perform the surgery, and the NHS initially refused to pay for the parents to come to the USA for surgery. The parents started a gofundme to pay for the travel and surgery, but the NHS eventually agreed to cover it after it became a big deal on the news.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-40864598