Health insurance has a become a big issue as more and more people are laid off due to the financial crisis, their options being either seeking new individual health insurance or using the COBRA plan, which was created especially for laid-off workers. The problem with COBRA is that it is largely unaffordable, taking up more than three-quarters of a worker's government unemployment compensation.

 Currently, the unemployment rate is 7.2%, which is the highest the US has seen in 16 years. This means that millions and millions of people are jobless, thus looking for health insurance. A laid off worker with health problems is very unlikely to find individual health insurance, as companies are afraid to cover them.

The large majority of Americans get their health insurance from their work place, those who are jobless are thus in a big predicament. About 46 million people have no health insurance and the rest are covered by government insurance.

 Surveys show about 18 to 26 percent of people eligible for COBRA use the program in any given year, meaning that a low percentage of the people without a job live without a health insurance. The universal health-care systems, proposed by president elect Barack Obama, may be the last hope for many people living without medical insurance and in poverty.

 People who have very low incomes cannot afford the hundreds of dollars needed in order afford health insurance, and so they live without any, hoping not to get sick.

The system proposed by the president elect might be, indeed, the only solution for the health insurance issue the US is suffering from.