I changed jobs last Spring. My last day of work was on the 25th, and my plan covered me through the end of the month. The plan at my new job didn't kick in until the next calendar month, so being healthy in general, I risked going without coverage. Extending my previous plan via Cobra would have cost about $800.

When the month rolled over, I crashed my bike, and was obviously in need of stitches. Not knowing what this would cost me (thinking about all of those stories where someone got a five-figure bill for a standard outpatient visit to the ER), I called two local urgent cares, who said their billing office was not open on weekends, so they couldn't tell me. Not even an upper-bound estimate on closing a wound with centuries old technology.

Faced with the uncertainty about whether the bill would be in the hundreds or the thousands, I opted for bandages and superglue.

Even as someone who left a good job with a good health plan for another one, I was briefly exposed to the choices many Americans face when they need basic care. I can't imagine how many people choose to avoid the financial over the personal risk and end up in the red on that equation. In my case somewhat literally.

It's a crime what our lawmakers have done to preserve the costliest system in the world per capita, ensuring that administrators are guaranteed profits without any meaningful accountability to improving public outcomes over time. All they guaranteed was that more people had no choice to opt out of a terrible system and that the people who like it this way will keep getting paid.