My 2 cents. If you can't afford the medical bills here, don't live here. Thailand has better medical care than most places in the world. The standard of care here is way better than the US, and most western countries (and I can attest, as a California native). If you are paying out of pocket for elective care here, then it's cheaper here than the US or most other "fee for service" countries (at least those I've lived in -- and that's quite a few).
For emergency situations, the fees here are very reasonable, even if you are not covered by Thai government healthcare. I do understand fellow Americans and others that don't understand the concept of universal healthcare, who worry about being bankrupted for even minor ailments - but I guess that is a symptom and legacy of where we come from. My experience of the Thai (government) medical system has been nothing short of amazingly good! Yes, there is lots of waiting time in government hospitals (given the number of patients), but ultimately, the level of care and the access to specialists and high quality medical care is more than I would get in the US (or Australia - where I am also a citizen). I am a farang that has worked in Thailand for 30+ years, and have standard Social Security medical insurance as a result of being an employee in Thailand. Yes, for me that gives me priority and guaranteed medical care.
But, perhaps more relevant, is the access to outstanding healthcare that my extended family (who are not covered) has had over the many visits to Thailand where required (and often used). In all of those cases, there was no medical insurance involved. We have always self-insured. The fee for service and standard of care has been nothing short of outstanding, and very reasonable from a cost perspective. For nervous nellies, go ahead and pay ridiculous amounts to some Insurance company that may or may not pay out when stuff happens. We will stick to the Thai government healthcare provided by provincial Thai government hospitals. We have only ever experienced amazingly good healthcare services better than we would get in California or in Sydney.