I am a US citizen and as an adult, have now lived and received healthcare in the US, UK and GERMANY. I recently--of my own stupidity--broke my hand by tripping on my stairs. A common household accident that could happen to anyone, but resulted in a broken hand which required surgery. I have normal, public healthcare--no special private or additional insurances. I first went to the emergency room on a Sunday, where I was seen within 15 minutes, had an XRAY and was deemed likely to need surgery. However, as the hospital that I went to were not Orthopaedic specialists, they wanted me to go to Charite, which was the large hospital in Berlin. I called Monday for an appointment and got one for Wednesday. The person I saw at Charitie was a surgeon who confirmed I would need surgery--and I was booked for the coming Monday with the SAME surgeon who saw me. The experience was fantastic care from start to finish. I had a private room, excellent care, and literally someone checking on me every 5 minutes. And after 2 emergency room visits, 1 splint, 2 day/1 night stay in the hospital, 1 cast and 5 meals later, the grand total that I had to pay out of pocket was THIRTY EURO. Nothing. Easy the same experience in the states with insurance would have been 10K out of pocket. There is no system that is perfect, but by and large I am happy to pay into a system that I will hopefully not need often, but when I do it does not bankrupt me or other people. I fully support the introduction of a universal healthcare system for the US. Bernie Sanders, let me know how I can help :)