> Most minimum wage workers also don't have health insurance

Oh, I thought that the government provides a default one; realized that US doesn’t have a ‘default’ insurance from the sibling comment.

> that means they'd be in the hook for the entire amount.

Thats... insane and sad.

From what I understand, under the so-called "Obamacare" legislation, everyone in the US has to have insurance, and if they can't afford it then it'll be subsidized to some extent by the government. You do have to be poor enough to qualify for such subsidies, though.

In the grand tradition of USA politics, that responsibility has almost entirely been abdicated to the states.

Some states took federal funding to expand Medicaid and make it available to anyone making 138% of the federal poverty line -- think around $35k annually for a family of four.

Others did not. Consider Texas: medicaid is available for children, pregnant women, adults caring for children, and a few other special groups (children transitioning out of foster care, certain disabilities, etc.) It is not something that is available for all Texans.

In Texas, a single parent caring for one child would have to make less than $103 per month to receive coverage.

https://yourtexasbenefits.hhsc.texas.gov/programs/health/you...

The requirement to have insurance has been dropped.

"Poor enough" means you make less than ~$50,000 for a single person though. (Twice that for a family of four.) That puts you in the top 20% in the US and would be the top 10% in most of Europe.

It's up to 400% of the FPL and that only gets you a "credit", you're still liable for the premiums up to about 10% of your income. Plus any other "features" like deductibles, copays and coinsurance.