In the United States, our broken health-care system treats health care as a privilege, instead of the right it should be. It has been commodified to the point where people die because they decided not to seek preventative care due to high prices or they go bankrupt when choosing to seek medical care.

Take the experience of Reyna Tellez, a Make the Road New York member and Queens resident who has struggled without health care in New York and recently shared her story with us: “In the past, I have paid about $200 for a single doctor’s visit and about $300 for medications. Sometimes, I have had to take out a loan to pay for medication. Early last year I found a lump in my breast and finally in July a biopsy was done. However, the hospital told me they couldn’t remove the mass because I don’t have health insurance. I am scared and still in pain. I am a single mother, I am afraid for my two children.”