Access to medical services is central to the quality of life. Nevertheless, barriers to getting the necessary care and interventions are persistent on a global scale, posing a challenge to humanity’s well-being. The inability to afford health coverage is among such hindrances that result in delayed treatment and poor health and financial outcomes.
The selected challenge persists due to poverty and the limited nature of healthcare resources that create barriers to accessing medical services whenever necessary. Even in multiple wealthy countries, population coverage for basic healthcare is still lower than 95%, and developing economies have much more catastrophic trends (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, 2021). In the U.S., over 13% of adults of working age have no insurance, which is mostly due to the inability to afford it (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2022). The selected issue matters to me as I have witnessed many acquaintances fail to manage housing and other critical expenses in a way to allocate enough funds to purchase a suitable plan. Worse still, most of these individuals have full-time jobs, indicating that being relatively independent financially does not guarantee stable access to preventive services. As an engaged citizen, I feel the need to raise awareness of this issue.
To continue, experiences and insights that reveal the issue’s urgency relate to the consequences of being uninsured that I have witnessed. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many of my uninsured acquaintances had to postpone healthcare visits out of fear of costly procedures despite developing low-grade fever and cough. In two of the cases, delayed diagnosis created life-threatening consequences, including lung and kidney damage. With no access to insurance plans, the individuals resorted to natural flu remedies, hoping that no expensive medical involvement would be necessary. Considering the insurance statistics above, this urgent issue is likely to keep promoting thousands of delayed diagnoses, be it COVID-19 or other dangerous conditions.
Finally, financial barriers to accessing healthcare services represent an urgent issue for humanity. The spread of new contagious diseases exacerbates the already existing problem, causing low-income uninsured citizens to refrain from healthcare visits out of fear of costly bills. Having witnessed such situations’ devastating consequences, I perceive the issue as a crisis that requires immediate responses.
References
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2022). Health insurance coverage. Web.
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. (2021). Health at a glance 2021: OECD indicators. Author. Web.