In most hospitals , a stay with no insurance coverage usually ends with a long, intensive interview with the social work staff, to negotiate a payment plan. Unless you can show complete indigence, the plan will produce a payemt expectation, for several years, to cover most of the care you have received. Elements of the interview will include your job, your spouse's job, your respective salaries, the size of your family , the jobs and financial status of your grown children, the assessed value of your house, make and model of your car, any second homes ,bank accounts , stock portfolios, and anything else they can think of. Some states allow garnishment of salaries if these payments are not made on time. the hospital may try to force you to take out a home equity loan on your house in order to pay them. Missed payments bring legal action , and they could end up taking your house, and part of you paycheck.
Free care is not free. By these aggressive collection practices, the hospital mainains its ability to help those who truly have no way of paying for their care.
From any perspctive, health insurance is a better way to go.