The Health Care Divide: Unfair Financial Burdens

Our health care system is characterized by divisions. The insured receive more care than the uninsured, who are often priced out of needed medical care. Even among the insured, the healthy are divided from the sick, leaving the sick to shoulder large financial burdens. The burden of paying for health care divides people by income, with those at the lower income levels paying the largest share of income for health care. Until we overcome these divisions in our health care system, the challenge of achieving affordable, universal health care coverage will continue to elude us.