From what I've read about the US health system, I thought you don't get much in the way of medical treatment unless you have medical insurance.

In other word the insurance covers the cost.

If that is the case, where is the debt?

All I know is that many people go bankrupt from medical expenses. I don't know the specifics of how they get into that sort of situation. Perhaps it happens when hospitals first treat people, then bill them afterwards.

They go broke for many reasons:

1. US Healthcare is too expensive. Two weeks after I first came to the states, my wisdom teeth (all 4) started growing. I had to pull them out. That was a $2,000 bill and a good lesson to get insurance asap. If you get into a car accident and you don't have insurance, your bill might be about $25K. More if you need continuous care and more surgeries.

2. Doctors are doing unnecessary tests and operations. Sometimes, I feel like they just want you to test for every single disease with a similar symptom. What a joke.

3. Some patients are stupid. Why on earth do some people need to call ambulance for flu. Even if they don't have a ride, just find it, use a cab, or use a bus if you are that broke.

Common sense is like deodorant. People who need it most, never use it.

> 2. Doctors are doing unnecessary tests and operations. Sometimes, I feel like they just want you to test for every single disease with a similar symptom. What a joke.

Probably because you would rightfully have a slam-dunk malpractice suit if they didn't test you for diseases with similar symptoms and missed a diagnosis.

I think even people with insurance pay $2,000 or somewhere in that ballpark to have their wisdom teeth removed. Dental insurance operates differently from health insurance in that there’s usually a fairly low yearly cap, so it’s not really insurance in the normal sense, and it usually pays for maybe half the cost of certain types of treatment, and you pay the rest out-of-pocket. Upper-middle class people with health and dental insurance still spend a lot of money on orthodontics and cosmetic dentistry.

I had a different experience with my dental insurance. My insurance (offered through my employer) was only ~$30 per month. Most of the preventative treatments were absolutely free. Apparently insurance companies discount preventative treatments heavily, so teeth cleaning, xray, and other stuff that would cost about $200-300 per tooth/event was literary free. Hell, even crowns, implants, and alike were discounted by 60-80% if I wanted to do that. I also had a nice cap overall. I visited my dentist many times and never had to pay more than $40 per visit.

But I agree, ortho/cosmetics is a different beast to deal with.