That being said, it appears a large portion are people that were uninsured and then came upon a major medical emergency. Why do people take their health for granted? Even those that are insured, look at the obesity and smoking rates, two significant factors in unexpected early death.
The helicopter ride to the hospital was $80,000 per person.
They have awesome insurance (plus supplemental) that doesn't cover a dime of that.
Countless surgeries later and that $160K is a tiny fraction of the total.
This is a very myopic view, one that I guess makes you lucky to have. Health insurance is expensive. On the individual market, premiums have more than doubled between 2011 and 2018[1]. Employer-provided health insurance costs have followed a similar trend, with employee contributions increasing at a rate that outpaces employee compensation by a long shot[2].
Not only are health costs increasing at rates that far exceed compensation rates, cost of living expenses are increasing far faster than compensation rates. Average hourly compensation rates have been nearly stagnant since the 1970s[3].
[1] https://kaiserfamilyfoundation.files.wordpress.com/2018/10/9...
[2] https://img.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/files/2012/0...
[3] https://i2.cdn.turner.com/money/dam/assets/130305161550-char...
Walmart is the nations largest private employer.
The average American can not afford a surprise $400 expense.
The average American has over $4k in credit card debt.
Yet, despite all of this, the average credit rating for an American is at an all time high.
Basically, don’t think people take their health for granted but the majority of Americans likely can not afford healthcare coverage if it’s not provided by their employer.
The only reason for not realizing that is stupidity, voluntary or otherwise.