Something of a reductio ad absurdam, there, @Skeeza. I presume you don’t have meteor insurance (although I guess it’s pretty cheap,)
2004 study: males spend $270,000 on health care lifetime (less than women because we live longer), two-thirds in the last part of life. My insurance was about $800/month before Medicare kicked in, lower as a younger person.
So, yes, as you can predict, insurance on average costs more than health care (hey, the Aetna CEO has to get his $15 million annually - it’s tough to manage a business that requires so many people to administer it). Add in the compounding effect on your savings that you mentioned, and it’s really not a good deal - on average.
However, federal law requires you to be treated for any life threatening illness (with some exceptions about who must do it that I don’t fully understand the economic impact of - perhaps someone can help?).
So I agree with your earlier point. Instead of defending freeloading, though, which is so unseemly, I think you should work toward the Let Freeloaders Die in the Street Act of 2017. The good news is that the political climate seems to be right for it!