The affordability of health care is a major issue drawing fierce debates across America. According to Gallup, in 2019, 33 percent of Americans said they or their family put off treatment for a medical condition due to high costs, and 25 percent said they delayed looking into a serious condition. Between 2016 and 2018, seven million Americans lost their medical insurance and 21 percent under the age of 35 were uninsured. Health care, or the lack of it, has become a key factor that divides the rich and the poor.

The American Journal of Public Health suggests health issues have led to two-thirds of bankruptcies in the United States. Its report looked at a thousand cases between 2013 and 2016, and found a majority of those who had trouble paying medical bills were middle-class Americans.