Sometimes, it's an emergency. A friend just had an emergency gall bladder surgery. 70k so far -- the bills say. They have a HD plan and their exposure is limited. I would imagine you can negotiate the numbers down but I have no idea how much or how much time that would take.
I am ready for a small island in the South Pacific somewhere.
You raise a good point. Given the cards we have been dealt everyone needs at least catastrophic health insurance of some sort or place themeselves and their family at great risk.