As apparently Dr Kola-Bankole has discovered, or would if he wasn't in a coma.

Thanks for adding the link. It's true that in this case it's not 100% certain that he wasn't insured. But the UK papers often have stories about travellers with no insurance who took a risk to save a few quid and lost the gamble. Not just the USA, recently I can think of stories about Turkey, South America etc. Often the poor parents end up having to remortgage their house to pay for their niaive offspring. I'm pretty sure most mums and dads would rather pay the premium than risk setting themselves back decades financially.

My own family is a case in point. My mum always insures herself, she has one of 'those' bank accounts which is better than most as it lasts until age 80 (she's 75). For a reasonable extra one-off payment they even cover her atrial fibrillation. Companies I looked at online wouldn't even cover her full stop.

But my sister never takes out insurance except for business trips covered by her employer. She has a PhD so brains and common sense do not always go together! I told her when we went to Jersey, Channel Islands, that they do not have the NHS, and no reciprocal arrangements, and it would cost only a few quid for insurance, but I don't think that she bothered. My in-laws don't bother either.

You also get a lot of stories about the European Health Insurance Card, where people have been caught out. It's not a substitute for insurance, lots of Spanish hospitals have refused to accept it, and it doesn't cover medical evacuation.