76 million  people get sick in America every year according to www.news-medical.net, and 44 million people in America don’t have health insurance according to www.pbs.org.

In America health insurance is now required to everyone that can afford it and if there is to be an individual without health insurance they would have to pay a annual fee when filing for the federal income tax. This is a penalty fee of $169.50 for children and $325 for adults that the family would have to pay.  The people that can not afford health insurance, the government will provide them with free health insurance and they will not have to pay the penalty.

Students who don’t have health insurance might have a harder time getting help, compared to a student that does have a regular physician, according to school social worker Jorie DePalma.   

With health insurance a student can have their health be monitored by their doctor instead of risking that their sickness gets worse and they have to go to the emergency room. Also  there was to be a situation where the student gets injured the student could get it checked by their regular physician instead of having to go to the emergency room. Instead of going for a problem that could’ve been helped or looked at earlier before it got to severe according to Nurse Kerri Harris

“Everyone should have health insurance because if you were to go outside and get in a car wreck or something like that your medical bill would be crazy (high),” Harris said.

Students without health insurance have a higher possibility of getting sick and going to the emergency room compared to students that do have insurance according to DePalma.

Even though every family has their own reasons for not having health care, one of the reasons could be that the individual’s income might exceed the amount for medicaid but they can not afford any other insurance.  

If a student does not have health insurance they should contact DePalma in the student services office or it is recommended by DePalma to go to Action Health Center on 2868 N. Pennsylvania Ave. where they offer low-cost medical and social services.

“Every kid, even if there parents don’t or do have health insurance, every kid should have health insurance somehow,” Harris said.