No one should die because they lack health insurance, yet the travesty happens daily. Even more so, the lack of insurance delays diagnoses and treatment decisions leading the poorer prognoses, disparate outcomes, and more costly, complex care. It’s a no-win for everyone involved.

The situation described above was formerly theoretical to me, a case study. While working as an inpatient nurse, I never paid attention to the entire patient story. She was there for acute needs, and that’s all I needed to think about. Or so I thought. Nowadays, though, as I see patients move across the continuum of care, I routinely see the impact health insurance, funding, and medical bills have on patient health prevention, detection, treatment, and survivorship.

I refuse to “get use to it.” No one should die because of lack of health insurance. No one.