Friends of ours from California were visiting us where we live in France and one of them needed emergency gall bladder surgery. He had to spend 5 days in the hospital and the surgery, hospital stay, medications and follow-up care (daily house calls by a nurse) came to a total of 5000€. He of course had to pay for this as he's not covered by the French healthcare system but the cost of this life-saving surgery did not land him with a bill that would destroy his life! Thank you universal healthcare!