If I could cap my downside risk from medical events through insurance, I would do that instead. And this is not a replacement for insurance, since many medical providers will refuse to provide non-emergency care if they didn't expect that they could bill my insurance for services rendered.
But, unfortunately, it's currently impossible to set a maximum price you could wind up owing due to receiving medical care. Any provider you go to could end up incurring out-of-network charges and wind up balance billing you. The only fix is to cap the actual damage of creditor judgements in general.
> But, unfortunately, it's currently impossible to set a maximum price you could wind up owing due to receiving medical care.
Of course, because demand for healthcare is infinite, so you could wind up costing the insurance company an infinite amount of money. And if their expenses are uncapped, they're not going to cap how much you can pay them.
And if they cap their expenses on your behalf, it's not really insurance, it's just a shitty payment plan.
I misspoke a little: it's impossible to set a maximum price that the 95th percentile household can afford. A single medical event can bankrupt households but not the state of California.
But, unfortunately, it's currently impossible to set a maximum price you could wind up owing due to receiving medical care. Any provider you go to could end up incurring out-of-network charges and wind up balance billing you. The only fix is to cap the actual damage of creditor judgements in general.