How do poor Americans pay for health care?

I am lucky enough to have friends all across the world. A recurring question from many of them, mainly Europeans, is how do poor folk in the United States afford those ghastly and well-publicized medical bills? Well…

We don’t. Because, barring some truly unbearable illness or injury, we don’t go to the doctor. That’s why you see this so often in this country:

Now, to be clear, emergency care is free at point of service in this country. You show up at the hospital with a broken leg or debilitating infection and you will be treated. Of course, the definition of emergency varies from state to state. So, what do you do if you’re in pain but it’s not an emergency?

You wait until the last possible moment to go and hope to god that you can eventually pay for it, effectively doubling the odds you’ll go bankrupt in a few years. The USA does have a health insurance program for low-income people though, maybe Medicaid will pay for it. But Medicaid is a joint Federal-State program and you discover that you’re in one of the seventeen states that don’t cover you. Let’s say…