I disagree with you, because there are countries on earth where wealth doesn't play as big of a role in happiness as it does in the American culture. Take Sweden for example, where I'm from, where literally every citizen has access to top-tier healthcare & education that's free (funded through taxes), 16 months paid parental leave, among many other nice things. This while still being very liberal (although social democratic) and one of the world's most developed countries in terms of technology, energy, transportation and taking care of the environment.
Over here happiness can be found without being wealthy, and generally you don't have to worry about your financial status as much because you'll always have access to top-tier healthcare, education and benefits if things goes south at some point, no matter what.
If you get what appears to be a routine cancer in Sweden, does an entire team of leading oncologists meet together in a room to fully review your diagnosis and discuss what additional cutting edge techniques you might benefit from?
Do they apply machine learning to help you that is so good 30% of the time it suggests actionable ideas that the oncologist didn't notice or even know about?
In Sweden if you have hepatitis C, do they give you the gold standard treatment that costs $70,000 US for 90 days of pills, or do they give you the older cheaper option?
Today, you get all of that and more if you have enough money.
I did live in Canada for a while, and noticed it was very common for the wealthy to bypass lines and access higher quality care by paying for private treatment out of pocket.
The reality is not many governments have the resources to afford the best possible care for all people in all situations. And innovation makes it worse. There is always something newer, better, more expensive.
You have to understand that this is a cultural difference between Sweden and the US, and Canada is more like Sweden but far from the same. In Sweden, the culture of things like the best possible healthcare and education is not a "premium" thing like it is in the US, over here it is seen as a basic human right to have access to the best possible healthcare and education no matter what your financial status is.
Thanks to this culture, ideas like making a profit off of peoples health issues is frowned upon and therefore medicine for example is not even close to as expensive as it is in the US. It's the same with the 16 months parental leave, it's considered a basic human right to be able to spend more time with your newborn if you want to, without impacting your finanical status as much.
Of course there is always something better available if you've got the dollar for it, but the Swedish healthcare is generally very good. I've had an uncle done heart surgery, a friend with brain tumour and both are healthy as horses now and they didn't have to spend any money.
I should also mention that the Swedish people is generally very healthy thanks to our laws and EU directives surrounding food and medicine standards. Overall the quality of food is better here than in the US, due to new chemicals has to be proven that they are not harmful to your health, while in the US new chemicals has to be proven that they are harmful to your health before it can get banned (so all new chemicals are banned by default, and allowed when proven otherwise). Additionally, antibiotics and other harmful medical treatment for livestock is banned in Sweden, so the resistance towards antibiotics is generally lower here as well. The reason I mention this is because it goes hand-in-hand with our government-funded healthcare. We invest a lot in making the people healtier overall.
This is a cultural difference, and the reason I stress that so much is because I don't want you to mistake this for a socialistic country, like so many do, because Sweden is very liberal overall.
It sounds like a great place to live and I appreciate the difference of culture you describe.
However, you didn't answer my three real life questions, which I take to mean most people wouldn't get those benefits.
The people there who decide what is allowable treatment are optimizing for a certain cost/benefit ratio. While wealthy people only optimize for quality of life and longevity.
The reason I didn't answer those question is because I am not a doctor and personally don't have any experience with any of those particular cases. I'd love to answer each of your questions point blank, but I just don't have an answer to them.
But the point of my response is that there are cultures in the world where healthcare and education isn't a problem for your happiness, because your citizenship has those benefits covered. I do however fully agree with you that it is as you say in the American culture, and many others.
Over here happiness can be found without being wealthy, and generally you don't have to worry about your financial status as much because you'll always have access to top-tier healthcare, education and benefits if things goes south at some point, no matter what.