Health is a commodity. Insurance plans, pharmaceuticals, doctor’s visits and medical technology all add up to the costs that the average American encounters when faced with maintaining their wellbeing.

Despite being one of the most developed countries in the world, the United States boasts insufficient healthcare for an aging and unwell population.

With 75 million Americans suffering from high blood pressure, 68 percent being obese, and 73 million with high cholesterol, it is sickening that the GOP would rather see 'Obamacare' fail. These are just a few of the diseases that plague the nation; on the higher side of healthcare costs are those afflicted with diseases like cancer. In 2014, Americans filled 4.3 billion prescriptions and spent nearly $374 billion on medicine according to the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics.

President Trump’s plan to let ‘Obamacare’ fail only exacerbates the severity of the situation.

As far as he or the government is concerned, these are just numbers, not people. Instead of pouting in a corner over the defeat, there needs to be communication between the parties on how to adequately provide accessible healthcare to the American people. Reform is more than just a legislative feather in the Trump administration’s cap -it can literally mean life or death, and while the President insists on letting ‘Obamacare’ fail, he is inflicting cardiac arrest on an already ailing public.

Based on 2014 census projections, 108,729, 506 adults are over 50 in the United States and this figure is expected to grow by 10 million by 2020.

Average annual healthcare costs per person was $10,345 in 2016 according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services with healthcare spending hitting 3.2 trillion in 2015. In spite of all of the money going into healthcare, the services provided to the public are less than optimal and most of the money goes into Medical technology like CT scans, MRIs, and pharmaceuticals instead of doctor’s visits and checkups.

The Commonwealth Fund report also states that health services were more expensive in the U.S. than in other countries and in spite of not having universal healthcare, U.S. spending on government sponsored health care was also significantly higher per capita than other countries.

With all of the money and wasted energy on Capitol Hill, the American people are still at a disadvantage when compared with other developed countries.

The sheer size of the American population at 323.1 million does make it difficult to implement universal healthcare coverage and the prevalence of lifestyle diseases like hypertension and high cholesterol increases the amount of money spent on pharmaceuticals, but the aging population needs access to healthcare services. It’s either that or an increased risk of heart disease, stroke, and other fatal ailments. Healthcare should not be a privilege. Regardless of what tax bracket an individual falls into, they should have access to standard healthcare services. A simple doctor’s visit without insurance can cost $200 on average according to the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Wellness should not be a luxury.

The public should not have to worry about being able to cover their medical expenses. It is inhumane to force individuals to place their fitness needs on the back-burner because they are too costly. Moreover, it is childish and irresponsible to barter with the nation’s fitness because of bipartisan ignorance. The only goal should be reforming the Affordable Care Act, not in a way that destroys all of the progress that was made, but in a way that corrects its flaws so that the needs of the people could be met. Instead of destroying the Affordable Care Act, Congress should be more concerned with adequately replacing it with a bill that would match or exceed its successes and avoid its failures.

Stalemating only disappoints and compromises the constituencies that Congress and the government are supposed to serve instead of endanger.