Health insurance rates are hitting new heights, along with people’s fears. It seems this topic is on everyone’s mind and is the only thing we talk about lately. Premiums have more than doubled and are rising faster than ever, as millions of

Americans, including myself, lack health insurance. This is something that has to change.

I see cars all the time with bumper stickers that read, “Obama can keep the change.” You know who you are, but maybe we should think about all the people who are short on change and can’t afford to go without a change in the health care system.

“Whether you like [President Barack] Obama’s health care plan or not, you cannot deny the fact that health insurance premiums are going up,” said David Darm, a UNF alumnus who is now an intern in the Florida state capitol and a political science graduate student at Florida State University. “Most small businesses and a lot of individuals cannot afford the rates.”

Private insurance companies have the power to charge savagely high prices and decide what they will and will not cover. If individuals have pre-existing medical conditions when they walk into a health insurance office, there’s a chance they will not receive coverage at all.

In Alabama, almost 90 percent of their health insurance coverage is controlled by one company, according to Obama. There are only a few health insurance companies to pick from in each state, so if you don’t find one you like, then you’re out of luck.

The people who can’t afford health care coverage are really suffering. Without insurance, you have to say “no” when friends ask you to go wakeboarding or drive with people you swear have a death wish when they sit in front of a steering wheel. You even fear tripping over your own two feet because any injury might land you in a doctor’s office or hospital with an outrageous bill you’ll still be paying years down the road. Trust me. I would know.

Last year I felt the need to walk around barefoot one night and sliced my toe open on a broken pepper shaker. I know I shouldn’t have been outside without shoes, but instead of worrying about that, I was thinking why anyone uses pepper in the first place. But my thoughts changed in an instant when I left the emergency room with a bill totaled for thousands of dollars that I’m still paying off today.

Now when anything happens to me I tell my friends to never take me to the hospital. If I need stitches, bust out a needle and thread and do work because I don’t want to end up with another incident where I deal with the side effects of life without health insurance.

There are even more consequences to lacking health care coverage than this. It could even prevent you from getting the education you want, as some college and universities make health insurance a requirement for incoming students. I know a couple people who want to transfer to other schools from UNF, but they can’t because health insurance is the one thing lacking on their college transcripts and resumes.

Props to UNF for allowing students on campus without health insurance, but if this includes you, then you can keep on swooping until Obama’s health care plan is put into effect.

I know there are those people who disagree with Obama and have some concerns about his health care plan. Yes, there is the issue of costs and taxes for a public option; hearing the number $900 billion over the course of 10 years is enough to send anyone go into cardiac arrest.

However, the total cost is cheaper than both wars in Iraq and Afghanistan from President George W. Bush’s administration. Many Americans died for those causes. At least Obama is trying to save American lives with his.

No matter whether you like Obama and approve of his plan, at least he’s trying to make health care easier on those who can’t afford it. And even if his plan isn’t perfect, at least he put Kanye West on blast after the Video Music Awards outbreak.