I'd also like to comment on your questions to Thommas - In the US, everyone gets care for life threatening conditions. It's a Fed'l law.
Medicaid covers the poor. Particularly children.
We hear that there are 30 million or so people in the States without health care - and can't get medical attention - is that true?
No, that isn't true. The 30 million number is the number without health insurance. Some people choose not to pay for insurance. Some of them are young (20 somethings) who would rather spend money on other things, because they don't usually have high health costs. Some are people who don't believe in medical care for religious reasons. And others are people who live in areas - as I do - where there are plenty of walk-in medical clinics. The costs in the clinics are cheap, and if you don't have any chronic disease, you spend a lot less on medical care in the clinics than you would on insurance.
And, yes, that's one reason why insurance is expensive. People who are generally healthy don't bother. The insured people are the ones with the highest costs.