I can only speak from experience about Lebanon. Health insurance is completely private. There are government hospitals but those are mostly for the army, and some but not all people get insured through their job or union, either completely or discounted.

There’s something depressingly dystopian about hearing condescending Europeans talk up and down about how good their healthcare system is while I basically pay a sizable big chunk of my income for a health insurance card that has fucking Allianz in big bold letters on the back. Not literal imperialism but the contrast feels pretty abusive honestly

I heard stories from friends about countries in the region only. Health insurance via employer is mandatory in the Gulf countries if I remember correctly, but literally everything is tied back to work visa in their systems. I think Qatar will provide state assisted healthcare in case the employer illegally doesn’t renew insurance? All those countries give their citizens free healthcare but not the guest workers, which is most of the population in most of these places.

I’m assuming the very expensive private system is not exclusive to the US (which is built around private sector worship) and Lebanon (a feudal free-for-all oligarchy since time immemorial). I think health insurance is a big industry in Southeast Asia and urban west Africa as well? The world is more than just EU+US+friends