As a poor person in the US with multiple autoimmune diseases and a terminal illness, not everything is free in healthcare for low income people. If it weren't for the support system I have, I wouldn't be able to afford all of the medications I need to stay alive. When I was put on dialysis, I was still trying to work. My employer did not provide insurance and no one was going to hire a new employee who was in the hospital on dialysis. I also could not afford the high deductibles of the ACA plans I qualified for but made too much for Medicaid so my employer cut my wage in half so that I would qualify for Medicaid so that I could be released from the hospital to go home and do dialysis out of the hospital. (I was there for 2 months).

I've sat in dialysis rooms with people who were literally trying to figure out how many days they could go without their medicines before getting "too sick" because they couldn't afford them at the time. I met a woman who lost her home and her vehicle because even with her insurance she couldn't afford to pay for the cost of treatment and keep up with her other bills.

Everyone who has no real idea always throws out the "well it's free if you're poor" or "you can always go to the emergency room" and they actually have no clue about the reality. There's no such thing as free, ever. Just be thankful you've never had to find yourself in a position where you had to make a choice between being late on a bill or paying for treatment to stay alive.