Maybe it will not be easy to read this: In this particular case the US can learn something from past socialist regimes - or from Germany and many other western countries, which already learned, that OBLIGATORY state medical insurance solves such issues. It is not the ideal solution, but the best compromise available. Who would like to get cancer and fight with private insurance company while being ill?
Ok, I agree with the spirit of your post, but don't ever hold up the USSR or Venezuela or any of the others. It's obvious you don't know how shit actually worked back then, so let me tell you. It was a prime example of an underfunded system that was forced to meet bullshit metrics and shit was falling apart. If you wanted treatment for anything more major than the flu you basically had to bribe the doctors. Otherwise you could e.g. go to the ER bleeding out, be left to bleed out and just be written off as "well he died outside the operating room, nothing we could do guv'nor, metric for people surviving the OR = met". Mixups were constant, corruption was rampant and the doctors who were in this mess were all day-drinking to cope with it. To this day government healthcare back home is underfunded and oversubscribed and you need to pass doctors bribes to get priority treatment. Or you can go to a private clinic that openly just takes money on top of your standard insurance, thank god.
Previous socialist regimes are what NOT to do when you're implementing government services. Look at what they did and do the opposite.