When Americans want to understand the perils of the uninsured, think about preventive measures that every American receives with their health care every year. The annual physical is a pivotal point to any American life. The uninsured do not receive annual physicals with preventive measures that save lives. The deaths of the uninsured is measurable.
People come to the hospital ER with ailments that result in a diagnosis of end stage cancer. Try and tell someone who receives that diagnosis in the ER they should have been diagnosed earlier.
The uninsured that comes to American ERs are sometimes working people. They sometimes have a home. They may have dependent children. What happens when their diagnosis is revealed to them? What happens to the future? The promise of higher education? The promise of a home in their later years? The future of uninsured Americans is bankruptcy. It will happen. That means their ability to accumulate wealth is lost. All that tragedy because they were uninsured and not necessarily by choice.
When an ER visit is required for the uninsured there is real dread for many reasons and that dread is usually financial. That means they only go to the ER when absolutely necessary and frequently enough, too late.
