[The message I’m taking from the Italians (and Chinese) is that I don’t want a single-payer health insurance system. ]
My understanding, from both Chinese acquaintances and what I’ve read, is that the Chinese health system is mostly pay-for-service. Cash up front is the rule, ostensibly lifted by the Chinese government only for coronavirus patients. In normal circumstances, no cash means no service, even for accident-related trauma patients inside the golden hour.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_hour_(medicine)
https://www.vox.com/2020/3/2/21161067/coronavirus-covid19-china
[The first thing is, they said testing is free, treatment is free. Right now, there are huge barriers [to testing and treatment] in the West. You can get tested, but then you might be negative and have to foot the bill. In China, they realized those were barriers to people seeking care, so, as a state, they took over the payments for people whose insurance plans didn’t cover them. They tried to mitigate those barriers. ]