So I can't live day to day, because once in my life I might get in a car accident?
No, you can't. Funny you should use the example of a car accident because you'll notice you're actually required by law to have car insurance for exactly this reason. It would be dumb for you to crash into someone else, wreck their car, and then leave them holding the bag because you can't pay for the damage you caused.
Similarly, it's dumb to have a system where people can decide not to buy healthcare, and then go to the ER every time they're sick and have everyone else pay for their ER visits. Not to mention the fact that you might feel great saying "I want to live day by day" now, but I'm willing to bet your tune would change real quick if you got in a car crash and were slapped with a $150,000 hospital bill that you had no hope of ever paying off.
If it was done right, it would all just be covered by the taxpayers
Yeah, it would. Unfortunately that's not going to happen anytime soon because government, so this is the only halfway measure we could ever get passed right now. It's better than what we had before, but not as good as it should be.
But this doesn't help me at all. You're getting shitty about the cost of one surgery, while there's other shit that matters more.
I'm sure you will still be saying that looking at your 6 figure hospital bill. And I'm sure the rest of us will be saying that while we look at our taxes that cover the cost of all your ER visits you had to make because you can't see a doctor.
Bottom line, it's fine to say "we should be able to assume our own risks" in theory. The problem is that having large portions of the population go uninsured does not result in them assuming the sole burden of their risk. Poor people with no healthcare go to the ER when they have medical problems. The cost of those ER visits goes on the taxpayers.
And if they get seriously sick? Then they're fucked. So yes, it sounds nice to say "well, I'm going to take my chances and if I happen to get sick I'll deal with it", but the reality is that it's just flat out irresponsible to let people make such an idiotic choice. It's not sustainable to have people not have health insurance, have some catastrophic injury or illness and then have them be left standing on the side of the road with a mountain of debt they can never pay off in their life time.
Not to mention the fact that the hospital is now looking at $100,000 worth of surgical equipment, medicine and the cost of the time nurses and doctors spent caring for you that the hospital will never get paid for.
At some point you have to save people from their own irresponsibility, especially sine they aren't the only ones paying the price for their decisions.