Essay Sample About Free Access to Affordable Healthcare

70% of Americans have stated that due to Medical bills that at some point they’ve had to cut back spending on food, clothing, or other basic needs. (worklifepartnership.org) The cost of Healthcare has been widely debated especially in the past few election cycles as the costs of medicine and procedures have risen exponentially. The conversation surrounding the cost of healthcare in politics has been talking in circles as little regulation and policy has been done in the past decade except for Obamacare. Even with Obamacare being in effect which aims to give affordable healthcare, as of 2019, there are still nearly 30 million Americans that don’t have health insurance. (kff.org) As Congress, there is an obligation to your constituents to give them affordable healthcare to help the millions that have trouble paying their medical bills. 

Access to affordable healthcare is a human right. WHO – a well-respected organization for public health concerns and policy defines healthcare being a human right by saying, “The enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every jhuman being without distinction of race, religion, political belief, economic or social condition” (who.in). When most Americans talk about the need for cheaper healthcare based on it being a human right, they aren’t referring to lowering the costs of cosmetic surgery such as lip filler, botox, Etc.; they are most often referring to life-saving medications and procedures which are needed for them to survive. With the idea of affordable healthcare being a human right, also comes the idea that there shouldn’t be billions of dollars in profit for medicine that’s needed to survive. Some argue, “Well, if you claim that affordable healthcare is a human right, why don’t we just make everything that people need cheaper?”. The fact is that more often than not if a person needs something, there is typically a competitive market in which you can find something cheaper for close to if not the same quality. An example of this being with food and clothing. This doesn’t happen to be the case for healthcare as the cheaper the healthcare tends to be, the more expensive bills that people get as there is little regulation in price gouging for healthcare. 

The current cost of healthcare has negative implications which adversely affects those that are lower-income which further places those people into a never-ending cycle of poverty. Imagine yourself as a person without health insurance who has just been told the news that you need a heart transplant due to the cardiac damage which has arisen after beating cancer with chemotherapy. On top of the abrupt news, you are then denied having a heart transplant from a hospital due to needing a more "secure financial plan" to pay for it. This is the story of Hedda Martin. This is one of the many horror stories that low-income people have experienced with healthcare due to their lack of a high income. According to an article written about the implications between the cost of healthcare compared to being low-income, people that are uninsured as well as considered low-income are more likely than people of higher income to go to the doctor for preventative care and for more major health conditions/chronic illnesses. With people prolonging going to the doctor due to the lack of insurance, they end up paying a higher bill due to waiting until something more serious happens. An example is someone who doesn't go to the doctor for a prolonged cough but then gets sick with pneumonia. 

Most importantly, having access to cheaper healthcare could allow for an overall healthier society. If everyone were to have access to cheaper healthcare, we could have better preventative care.

From the time you are sworn into office as Congress, you must better off and write policies that reflect the wishes of your constituents. One of these policies that the American public overwhelmingly supports is lessening the costs of healthcare. An article posted that in 2020, nearly 63% of Americans believe that the government had a duty to provide for healthcare – up 4% from the previous year. As the number of people that support government intervention in the costs of healthcare for Americans, one question remains: How much more will Americans – especially amid a medical crisis with COVID-19, take before taking their issues straight to the halls of Congress?