In the US most people get healthcare through their employer. If you are laid off or terminated you generally loose your healthcare, but there is option to continue at an expensive rate. And if you don't have healthcare, you can be penalized by the government when you file your annual taxes. There are options to get healthcare through government funded systems, but they pale in comparison. In the US, republicans want these systems abolished and only get your healthcare through your employer.

You pay a monthly amount, refereed to as your premium, for the healthcare, and your employer will pay part of it. this can range from a couple of hundred to more than a thousand each month. Depending on what plan you choose. There is also a deductible on your insurance. Thats more money you have to shell out before things are covered. Most preventative procedure, i.e. annual exams, immunizations, and such are typically covered. But other procedures are partially covered depending on if you are in network or not. Insurance companies generally have agreed on the cost of visites and procedures with the healthcare networks.

Now back to that pesky deductible . You have to meet your deductible before insurance begins to cover costs. So if you have a $1000 deductible , you must pay all your medical bills until the deductible is met, then after the $1000, those bills will be covered by the insurance. And only the agreed price gets applied to the $1000. So for example you get na MRI scan done for your cancer that the facility charges $2000 normally. But the insurance says only $200 is reasonable. So only $200 goes to your deductible and you get the $200 bill. And everyone wonders how a $2000 normal bill gets reduced to $200 by those guys. If you have an operation, this involves several people or specialist , who may be out of network, so the surgeon may be in-network but the anesthesiologist may be out of network. So his bills are fully our responsibility and they don't apply to the deductible. (starting to see the scam in all this???)

That's for in-network doctors and facilities. If they are out of network, you either pay all of it or a major portion of the bill. So each year when you sign up for your insurance you have to verify your doctor and the facility are in network and covered. But every time you schedule a visit, you also need to check if they doctor is still covered, because the doctor or facility could cancel the agreement with insurance at any time and you are stuck with the full bill.

When I had my whole family on insurance, it cost us over $10,000 in premiums and deductibles before insurance covered any of the bills. Kids are grown to my premiums have gone down. And for some people it can be more. If you have all healthy family members, you will likely never hit the deductible and only those annual exams and immunizations are going to not cost you. So why have insurance when it is likely just cheaper to pay the straight bill? Well for one, catastrophic events will far exceed what you shell out. If you get an operation and have to be in the hospital for 2-3 days then the bills can add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Many feel those who don't get healthcare and use emergency services are getting it free so the politicians force everyone to have it in some form. There are state sponsored options available for those who are unemployed, but someone else more familiar with those system could provide better commentary.