The heated debate over the past year about the recently-passed healthcare bill has made the bill out to be something that it is not. The healthcare bill is not the devil incarnate and it is not just a way for President Barack Obama to play a modern-day Robin Hood. The purpose of the healthcare bill is simply to help save lives, and it is hard to argue with that.

People who do not have healthcare are not lazy or stupid. They are just average people who happen to have landed in unfortunate circumstances. Not everyone has the same opportunity to succeed and be financially stable, and not everyone is able to work their way to the top to be able to afford health insurance. Some people simply have to sacrifice health insurance in favor of food or shelter.

My friend’s mother cannot get health insurance—not because she cannot afford it, but because she had breast cancer in the past and now has several other health problems. If she were to need serious medical care, she would be in deep financial trouble. For a mother who needs to provide her children with food, clothing and shelter, the debt that a medical problem could create would be devastating.

Look around. There are students in this school whose parents cannot receive health insurance. Our friends, our relatives—there are so many people who will benefit from this bill. According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), 32 million Americans will be able to receive healthcare because of its passage.

Mitt Romney, Republican and former Massachusetts governor, said on MSNBC that America has “millions and millions of people who have no health insurance and yet who can go to the emergency room and get entirely free care.”

This is only partly true. Yes, the uninsured can just walk into an emergency room and receive the care they need. However, without insurance, it is very difficult to afford this emergency care. When hospitals see that someone cannot pay for an emergency room visit, they pass on the costs to their insured patients, according to FOX News.

            This means that we are already paying for healthcare for the uninsured. In that case, why not just channel this money into doctor visits for uninsured people, which cost, according to BlueCross BlueShield, an average of six times less than the average emergency room visit? It is more sensible to find diseases before they require a trip to the emergency room, and it is also more cost-effective.

            Some people toss around the word “socialism” as an insult to the bill and to Obama. They say that, because the government will directly be affecting healthcare, the bill is doomed to fail. However, by this same standard, firefighting, police and the postal service—those services that we count on every day to be available for us—are all “socialized.” Government-run programs are not inherently bad.

Honestly, the biggest argument against the healthcare bill is its price. Yes, $940 billion is a lot to spend over 10 years. However, this amount of money saves people’s lives, and in the long run, the bill will pay off. The CBO estimates that the bill will reduce the U.S. deficit by $143 billion during the first ten years that it is implemented, and by $1.2 trillion during the second ten years. 46.3 million Americans are currently without health insurance, which is like walking a tightrope and having no safety net. The healthcare bill will be an enormous help to these people. Lives take priority over finances, no matter what.