I know that for me, up until recently I personally had no idea how health insurance worked or what exactly it entailed, so I want to open up with talking about how health insurance works, why it is a problem for our country, and what we have done to fix it.
Whenever you go to the doctor (for any kind of operation, check up, consultation, etc…) there is a cost that you have to pay. Health insurance helps to cover some of the cost and lighten your financial burden. Like most insurance however, it is expensive, and you never really know when you’re going to need it, but when you look at the numbers it becomes obvious that you would rather have it than not. Something like a broken leg, can cost upwards of $7,000 and if you don’t have an insurance plan to cover that, you are going to take full financial responsibility. Today, the cost of quality insurance coverage is much higher than it was, and it is creating a problem for those who cannot afford to pay for their medical bills, let alone insurance.
Thankfully, people realized that this was a problem and worked to pass legislation that would fix the issue, but unfortunately in our country it seems you can never solve a problem with legislation, only tweak it. That is exactly what happened twelve years ago with the passing of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). In summary, this law helped to make health insurance more affordable for those with a lower income, but at the same time shot up the premiums for those who were already managing to pay. Whether or not you agree with the legislation is a different conversation, but what is important is that this has been one of the only notable changes to the healthcare system that our country has made in the last decade. It worries me that we are not only becoming stagnant, but that we are resting on our laurels when in reality there is still a larger problem at hand. Eleven years since the passing of the ACA the 2021 census found that there are still 27.5 million lower income Americans who lack health insurance. Lack of health insurance is the reason for 30-90 thousand deaths in our country per year. Percentage wise, that is not much of our population, but they’re still people, and they still deserve to be healthy.
Healthcare has always been a complicated system for me to understand. However, I did see the effects the affordable care act had on our economy and how it changed other private insurance plans. It is crazy to think that some people do not have healthcare that is reliable and helpful for their families.