Hope this isn't a repost. It's a truly bizarre story. Apparently the guy had nearly 100K of med bills and decided to kill a federal employee in order to go to prison, since he was about to have his home sold away.
read the story at http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBZ5WUC5BE.html
I don't suppose it would do any good to opine on the need for universal healthcare. This poor man was obviously mentally disturbed. Then again, having 100k worth of debt crash over your head will seriously strain just about anyone in the bottom 95% of the income pyramid.
I guess that's the main problem with the US healthcare system. The system basically works great for two groups of people: The first one is those wealthy enough to make the costs a non-issue. The second group is the people who are healthy enough not to require regular services, and who are insured well enough against major emergencies.
For the rest, any medical fender-bender can produce medical bills far beyond the patient's ability to pay off.