66% Of Americans Think They Won't Be Able To Afford Healthcare This Year

A poll from earlier this year revealed that 66% of Americans didn't think they'd be able to afford healthcare costs in 2021. This was at a time when the pandemic was still raging uncontrollably and vaccines were sparse. But the fear hasn't gone away just because jobs are coming back and the pandemic is being subdued - many people who have health insurance say that they can't afford their care, even when it is under $1,000. The American healthcare system is a joke, but only CEOs and shareholders are laughing. Ring of Fire's Farron Cousins discusses this.

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*This transcript was generated by a third-party transcription software company, so please excuse any typos.

A poll came out in January of this year and I know, yes, we're in June and we're talking about a poll from January, but it's an important poll. This poll from January at a time when the pandemic was still raging, vaccines were very hard to come by and we didn't know when we would get them. But at the time 66% of Americans said they didn't think they would be able to afford healthcare costs this year with 50% saying they couldn't even pay an unexpected medical bill if it were under $1,000, 50% of the country said they wouldn't be able to afford a medical expense under $1,000. The other 16% said, you know, maybe a thousand I could do. But other than that, no, I can't afford. I can't afford healthcare in the United States today. So the reason I am talking about this poll from January all the way in June is because nothing's changed, 49 and a half percent of Americans in this country get their health insurance through their employer.

And sure, back in January, when people had lost their jobs, we didn't have any kind of economic recovery yet. They were worried they weren't even going to have insurance. But a vast majority that this poll also shows of people who have insurance are still saying they can't afford their healthcare, even with insurance. And I know because I've been there up until about the last year, I was firmly, firmly in that boat. And I'm just barely out of the boat now, folks. But I like millions of other Americans who had insurance still couldn't afford my medication. You know, an inhaler that was costing me $250 every single month and you could only get it in a 30 day supply. Epi pens for my kids, I needed two of them for two different kids, two different weights, two different sizes, $600 per kid, twice a year. Couldn't do it. I mean, I was living in fear that my kids would have an allergic reaction and the best I had to offer them was an Epi pen that was 18 months past its expiration date.

So I know what these people are talking about. I know what these fears are and these fears are that nothing gets done about the healthcare industry here in the United States, because politicians are the ones who are not taking it seriously. You watching this, you take it seriously. I take it seriously. This is an issue that affects citizens across the political spectrum here in the United States. And it's an issue that those same individuals, regardless of political affiliation, agree, something has to be done to make it better for them. This truly is a bipartisan issue and when you strip political ideology away from the issue of healthcare, most Americans end up supporting a single payer system. Most Americans end up supporting limits on cost of drugs here in the United States. You know, I'm actually reminded, there was at one point during the Trump administration, literally one good thing that guy did, he signed an order forcing drug companies to have to display the price of a 30 day supply of their drugs in their ads.

Now, a judge struck that down, so that never actually happened, but that would have been a good thing. Not because it was a, would have caused companies to lower their prices.