[Edited subject line to be more meaningful -- James]
On the subject of insurance; it is available, but (a) it only covers illness
and injury (no elective surgery) and (b) rates for people who list their
occupation as "high-risk, high-pay adventurer" are also high. Actually,
what I usually do is assume that the government looks into your credit
history and will help you out if you cannot pay your medical bills. If
you can pay your medical bills, hospitals usually run about 5000 CR/week
(between $500 and $1000 in modern American money). Oddly, no one in my
game world has ever asked about insurance.
As for your specific problem...
1) As a veteran, the character might have had some kind of special
insurance options. On the other hand, even if they did pay, they might
take a while, and the character might be temporarilly responsible for
his or her medical bills. I think that, right now, you only have health
insurance from the military while you are IN the military, although you
can get special rates from some companies when you are out.
2) Since your character was being a pain, you might have warned him--
"General Goof, make an Intelligence roll." "I rolled an 11." "You get
the distinct feeling that if you continue to hassle these well-armed
peace officers that they will take advantage of the local low law level
and blow your fucking head off."--before you executed him, but I assume
you probably did something like that. (Since it is a game, you are
allowed to use creative clue devices--I had one friend who, when we were
totally lost, had us receive telegrams or notes tied to rocks that were
thrown through our window.)
3) If your character continued to be a pain after you warned him about
possible consequences, you have three options. 1) Kill him on the spot,
either by having the NPCs do it or by just saying "You're pissing me off,
so you have a fatal heart attack. Go home." 2) Give him what he wants,
if it something minor, and write it off. 3) Give him what he wants, and
then have him die in some unrelated way near the end of the adventure--
"I don't know, General Goof, the bad guys just keep rolling your number
when they are selecting targets; maybe it's because you look like a leader."
Basically, the point is to have fun, but it is your game, too. If a
character is being a total idiot, and you have warned him about it, it is
his own fault if he keeps on irritating you and/or other players and/or
NPCs that you are trying to run realistically, and gets himself shot. NPCs
are like people, some of them are stupid, ill-tempered, and so on, and you
should not screw around with them. Of course, sometimes a player is okay,
but has chosen to run a somewhat eccentric character, but then they usually
accept the risks, and are usually smart enough to take your hints if they
are going too far.
As a final note, I just want to say that I do not like situations where I
feel like I have to kill someone's character. Fortunately, my players can
usually tell when my decision on something is final and they generally do
not push things. On the rare occasions when a player is being an ass,
other players usually off him before I have to do anything about it: "But
this is simply not the blah blah blah blah blah." "Mark, Alan is being a
jerk, so I'm shooting him in the head." "Okay, roll two dice." "I rolled
a 9, and my high Dexterity makes that an 11." "Alan, Jeff is drawing on
you, make an inititive roll." "I rolled a 7." "Uh oh, Jeff will get the
first shot, and he has Pistol skill at +4." And so on.
Take care all.