Recently, while waiting for a table to open at our favorite restaurant, my husband and I saw something that made us both sad and concerned. On the bulletin board were two flyers, announcing fundraising events for two young people, both of whom were afflicted by very serious medical conditions. We were struck again with the question of how is it that in such a rich and powerful nation as the United States, its citizens can’t afford health care? Every one of us should have affordable, easy access to medical care, mental health care, and respite care that does not require us to sell our homes or bankrupt ourselves to receive it. None of us should have to rely on the charity of strangers, friends and neighbors to ensure that we or our loved ones can get medical treatment.

This week Congress is voting on extending the Affordable Care Act health care subsidies. Without the ACA, health insurance has become unaffordable for many who are now opting NOT to purchase coverage. This can be so costly and so risky! My hope is that no one ever need medical services, but a quick Google search found the following results by Priority Health that lists the average costs for the uninsured —

— Ambulance ride: $500 to $2,000;

— Emergency room visit: $1,150 to $2,000; depending on severity, cost may rise to $10,000 to $30,000;

— Hospital stay (per day): $2,800 to $3,500; a typical hospital stay is about 4.5 days;

— Routine inpatient procedure, such as having your appendix or gallbladder removed, involves a three- to five-day hospital stay and can cost between $20,000 and $40,000 without insurance.

Medical debt doesn’t just cause financial instability, it can also affect credit scores.

So as Americans we could wait for things to get better … but they don’t seem to be getting better. We could demand that our political leaders fix this! We could request that our representatives, in the meantime, continue with the Affordable Care Act while they work on expanding coverage so that all Americans have access to medical care, so that no one need go bankrupt or be forced to provide for their loved ones with a GoFundMe account.