Picture this: you are a physician at an emergency room working feverishly in the dead of night.

Even though you are already responsible for four patients, another one is admitted for you to take care of. Upon checking on him you find he has a slew of problems, from diabetes to heart disease. He needs swift medical attention and his family is scared and worried, waiting for some positive news. You know his problems can be treated; you have the power to make the right decisions and deliver the proper treatment for his illnesses. Just as you are about to make a decision, there is a caveat that has your hands tied.

Your patient’s health insurance company does not cover the procedures, and therefore the hospital refuses to cover him. They treat him for his immediate problems and then boot him out. All the while you look on, knowing that the sick person that you could have treated just had his fate set in stone.

Dramatic, right? Well, it’s not a work of fiction. This is a problem doctors have to go through daily in the United States. They are no longer the deciders of whether or not a person lives or dies; instead, health insurance companies are.

More than 45 million people in the U.S. went without health insurance for at least part of the year in 2007. According to the American Journal of Medicine, the leading cause of personal bankruptcy in the United States is medical debt.

It’s true that private plans draw people in by delivering a variety of choices, and bring novelty to the industry because of the profit motive. However, they also have many disadvantages, including ineffective industry consolidation between hospitals and insurers. In addition, the health insurance industry has become controlled by just a handful of large companies, resulting in overpriced coverage and selective care.

This is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to health insurance problems in the United States. Other problems include issues regarding coverage on pre-existing conditions and money coming out of doctors’ pockets for the malpractice insurance.

As a student in pursuit of a career in medicine, it really is disheartening to see how a patient’s life can be decided by whether or not they can afford coverage. Budding physicians are taught to only take this path if they have a true passion for helping others, and they make a promise to provide first-class health care. Seeing the ill and unwell forced out of hospitals — a place where life is born, nurtured and revived — is quite frankly sickening.

Nothing should come between a doctor and his job, period. A physician’s job is to make people better, and companies have no right to step in and stop him from doing that job.

Pursuing a career in medicine requires a lot of dedication. With the way the system works, you have to be more than bright — you also have to really be passionate about taking care of the sick. The course work is both challenging and time consuming. To become a physician a person will have to mull through four years of undergrad, the MCATs, another four years of medical school and anywhere from one to five years specializing and finally completing residency.

When I come out of this process I want to practice in a place where I won’t have to worry about whether or not my patient will be able to afford a procedure or a medicine that will save his life. My job will be to provide my patients with the best and top-rated care possible, not put a price on them.