I live in the U.S. and I have “health insurance” from my employer (over 200k employees worldwide and billions in profit). My contribution to my health insurance premiums is around $4500 per year (I think). The last four years I have hit my deductible for at least one family member and out of pocket maximum. I am fortunate that I have been able to afford the roughly $20k per year that I have been spending on health care, but it has wrecked my ability to save or do anything else.

So I guess my point is that I believe that 27M uninsured dramatically understates the scale of the US healthcare crisis. I feel like the political elite are so far out of touch that they hear a story like mine and think “$20k? That’s like a nice bottle of wine, what’s the problem?” It’s been devastating to my finances and by virtually any definition, I am in the working rich. Most people absolutely could not afford $20k per year. I am hoping next year will be better, but devastating medical bills are inevitable for most of us, and our socialized medicine is administered through the bankruptcy courts.

For profit insurance is pure exploitation.