There is a textbook concerning business and business practices, which shall remain here unnamed, that takes a curious position. It, as many other textbooks do I expect, claims that the economic system of the United States is superior to other, European, systems in that it allows for and succeeds at attaining less expensive items of purchase. So, while the European system - really Germany it seems - has a powerful economic force to it, and while countries with a strong dose of socialistic practices and other ideologies have healthcare protections and pension systems unmarred by cuts that promote tax relief for hyper-wealthy persons, there are inexpensive products in the American system.
So, as a middle-class person when I fall ill, I can incur an expense of, say, $100,000 because I do not have adequate healthcare coverage. I will also receive payments at the end of my life - inadequate to sustain a high standard of living without some other form of income - that themselves will be cut, made to sustain tax relief for hyper-wealthy persons. At life's end I could have a bill for healthcare services that I will never be able to repay...but during my whole life long I will be able to purchase inexpensive, cheaply manufactured apparel and necessities, plastic cutlery and other environmentally offensive sundry at a lower cost.