Let’s talk about real-life healthcare, where people are trying to live their lives, raise their kids, care for their parents, and do all of it while worrying about a fever turning into a hospital bill they can’t afford. Across the U.S., millions of people live without consistent access to healthcare.
It’s happening in big cities and small towns alike. You don’t need to read legislation to understand it; just talk to your neighbors, your Uber driver, or the woman behind the counter at your local diner.
A Story That’s All Too Common
Maria is a 29-year-old mom of three in southern Georgia. Her youngest has asthma, and every time a cold goes around the school, Maria braces for the possibility of a late-night ER trip.
They don’t have a regular doctor, and there isn’t one nearby who takes their state insurance. The nearest clinic that does is an hour away, so she waits, hopes, and prays her kid can sleep through the wheezing.
Maria is one of millions of rural Americans who don’t have easy access to basic healthcare services. Some of them live in what experts call “healthcare deserts,” places with no hospital, clinic, and primary care providers for miles.
For others, transportation is the main barrier. If you don’t have a car and the nearest doctor’s office is 30 miles away, what are your options?
The Hidden Cost of Low Wages
Even in cities, where hospitals are technically closer, affordability keeps a lot of people out of the system. About 27 million Americans are uninsured, according to the latest data, with those who do have insurance, saying it doesn’t actually help them much. High deductibles, confusing networks, co-pays that pile up result in these Americans getting little or no care and develop these doubts Americans have about their health insurance coverage.
Jared, a warehouse worker in Houston, skips yearly checkups because he’d rather save his time off in case one of his kids gets sick. “I can’t afford to be out of work, and I can’t afford the surprise bill,” he says. When he hurt his back unloading boxes last year, he toughed it out for weeks because the clinic near his house wasn’t in-network and the urgent care didn’t offer payment plans.
Race and Risk
People of color are more likely to be uninsured or underinsured, and more likely to face health disparities that make their outcomes worse. Black women are three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women.
Native American communities often rely on severely underfunded clinics, and Latino families are disproportionately represented in the uninsured population. These aren’t just numbers, but families making impossible choices every day.
What It Feels Like
Many of us don’t worry about choosing between filling a prescription or paying the electric bill, so it’s easy to take healthcare for granted. But millions of Americans don’t have this luxury.
Some stretch out their medications, if they have any medicine at all, while other Americans delay care until it’s too late and they’re really sick. And yes, some Americans just quietly cross their fingers and hope their bodies, and their family’s bodies, stay healthy.
These Americans live in all states, working hard as teachers, truck drivers, home health aides, single parents just trying to keep their lives together. They’re Americans that are probably you’re neighbors living next door, or just down the street.
So, What Now?
We start talking honestly about it without jargon or finger-pointing keeping to the facts as they exist, so more Americans hear the facts to understand the need to act. Maybe these conversations will stop Americans from treating healthcare like a luxury and start treating it like as the necessity it is.
Maria shouldn’t have to pray her kid makes it through the night, and Jared shouldn’t have to choose between a paycheck needed at home against his need for a back that keeps him working. And none of us should live in a country where your ZIP code decides if you get to see a doctor.
We’ve got the tools and resources to find solutions – all we need now is the will.
And in many places, it’s already happening. We work daily on developing the will, so would you like to join us in making this happen in even more places?
Explore our four support options to determine which one works best for you. We’re glad you’re here.
Follow along with “Care Within Reach” every week and join us in reimagining what healthcare access can look like—together.