A bit of background, I have had the unique opportunity to live in Canada and the USA. I was born in Canada and lived in the USA for 14 years.

Now being in Canada, I have had several injuries relating to skateboarding, cycling, normal things one would expect of a child growing up and other stuff throughout my years. I have always had no issues going to see my family doctor and getting x-rays, MRIs, etc. No issues whatsoever in going to the ER and getting the help I needed.
Being a child and I had no concept of health coverage, just never ever came up. I wouldn't have known about it if you hit me in the head with it. That is probably one of the greatest thing about growing up, never having to worry about going to the hospital. Not worrying about much in general.

Fast forward a few years (18 years ago) I was sick for a while, and saw my doctor, and got bloodwork done. I had to get to the hospital ASAP due to kidney failure.
I was transferred to the U of A hospital and started on dialysis immediately and 2 years of dialysis later, and I was called about getting a donor and went straight to the OR and got me a new kidney. A long hospital stay to monitor everything, a few years of extensive drug regimen and I conversation with my nephrologist about moving to USA and we agreed that I would fly to see her twice a year and she would sign off on renewing my medications and I would get supplied with enough meds to carry me through to the next appointment.

I have had nothing but the best care I could imagine. No waiting for anything I needed. I say this to give anyone a first hand account of my medical needs in Canada.

While I was living in the USA, I could NOT get health insurance due to the previous condition clause. Not even if my employer wanted to pay extra for myself. Could not get coverage no matter what we tried. So my emergency ER was a credit card to buy the first flight back to Canada that I could find. I was fortunate not to ever need that option but I found that an issue, with the US system, that needs to be corrected.

While there I still needed to do blood work every 2 months and went to the local hospital to get them done. They always asked me if I had insurance, I said no and wanted to pay in cash. Blood work would have been around $400 for insurance, but only $145 in cash. That got me thinking about the way health is paid for in the USA.

I think the average family pays around $833 per month for health insurance in USA, I pay a little less in federal taxes on my paychecks per month. That pays for the single payer healthcare we have in Canada and everything else the federal government pays for.
I am trying to understand how this would bankrupt America if you moved to universal coverage? The pay is about the same whether you pay an insurance company or in taxes.

Some people here are worried about the future of employees at these health insurance companies, but I wouldn't worry about that since other opportunities exist. Here in Canada the health coverage doesn't pay for everything, dental, eyesight and other areas aren't covered and still need health coverage from companies like Blue Shield and they still need employees.

* my 2 pennies (which we don't use anymore in Canada)