25 and Disappointed: Who can afford to fall sick?

 The healthcare - which is supposed to be a basic human right, is no longer one? 

If someone falls sick, the system would hold them and restore their health - it should be that simple.

It seems that it’s not that simple.

Getting treated, now a days, feels like entering a marketplace. It’s as if, staying alive is something tougher than death.

TV commercials, Hospital posters, insurance agents and social media-they all scream the same thing:

“Thank God he took insurance.”

But the question is: “Why he had to take the insurance in the first place?”

The fear of being sick is not easy to deal with.

Reading stories about families who lost their lifetime savings overnight.

Hearing people who ended up in debt trap for getting treatment.

Combined with the altogether different story of many people living too remote places to even access to the basic health care.

Then comes the insurance.

Even if we have insurance, will it be enough?

What if the bill crosses the coverage limit?

What if they say “It’s not covered under this clause”, “Condition was pre-existing”, “This falls under an exclusion list” ?

Even when we try to be prepared, we might still be denied the help when we needed it the most?

There’s also the vicious cycle-

Hospitals can charge more if people have insurance.

People are pushed to take insurance because hospitals charge more.

It seems we have to try not to fall sick. Not because we fear death, but we fear the bills.

We could not do anything related to this.

We have normalized that falling sick is a financial crisis. Medical care has become privilege. This seems like a failure of humanity. 

A child shouldn’t die because the family couldn’t afford antibiotics.

An elder shouldn’t be left because their income isn’t enough for dialysis.

Should we feel grateful for having insurance?

That we get treated with “cashless hospitalization”?

It’s tough to be grateful for the system that can save people only who can pay.

Financial status should not decide who gets to live.

Profit has taken over everything else? 

Is a good healthcare not meant to be sacred? Not just like an object to be sold?

Something that is so human, has become just a business.

P. S. Thanks to ChatGPT