The fact that so many Americans these days hold fundraisers just to pay for medical bills is a crystal clear indicator of the sad shape of the U.S. health care system. The fundraisers commonly are called benefits, and they pay off medical debt for afflictions such as automobile-collision injuries, heart disease and cancer.

We recall a time in America when benefits to pay off medical bills were rare. Recall prior to 1995 or so. They didn’t happen much. Only people without insurance and facing the most extreme costs needed them. It was a big deal when they happened, and the whole community pitched in.

Now, people have them so often that it becomes difficult for regular families to contribute. It even becomes difficult to keep track of them all. These are people who have medical insurance, even squarely middle-class folks with good jobs.

In Canada, where there is a socialized health care system, they don’t have benefits. They don’t have medical bills. Why can’t America, the wealthiest country in the world, accomplish the same goal? Why do Americans need to pass the hat just to pay off cancer treatment?

Mike Maguire, a spokesman for the American Cancer Society and the mayor of Eagan, said he knows of no agency or organization that tracks benefits to pay off medical bills. He said the American Cancer Society increasingly hears stories about people who are insured and still need the fundraisers. He said it is a result of the skyrocketing cost of health care and the fact that people can’t pay or their insurance refuses to pay for cancer screenings, so when they are diagnosed, it is at later, more-costly stages.

In Canada, people aren’t hesitant to go see a doctor because they don’t worry about the bills.

Maguire, 40, survived colon cancer. He was diagnosed with it three years ago. He, too, recalls when cancer benefits were much less frequent. He said the American Cancer Society’s sister organization, the Cancer Action Network, wants to make fighting cancer a national priority in the coming presidential election. That means changing the American health-care system. The Cancer Action Network’s Fight Back Express is coming to Minnesota on July 27 and leaves July 31. Look for which cities as the time approaches.

A big aspect of that campaign is insuring everyone. We would encourage the lawmakers to go one step further. If the federal government can afford to kill people through war, it surely can afford to save Americans through a socialized health care system.

Maybe then good, hard-working Americans wouldn’t need to pass the hat so often to pay bills that rich insurance companies refuse to.