Breaking Bad and US Healthcare

By Ben Buffington

[benbengl102]

Breaking Bad: A demonstration of the failings of the American Healthcare System

The American healthcare system is deeply flawed, the television show Breaking Bad demonstrates this. I chose this topic as many people often have to choose death or permanent disability over healthcare they need for financial reasons. Most insured people also obtain their healthcare through their employer. This becomes a problem when the medical treatment causes people to lose their jobs due to side effects from the treatment itself. The overall purpose of this blog series is to inform the American public about their healthcare system and its multiple shortcomings.

The television show Breaking Bad highlights the failings of the modern United States healthcare system in areas such as how health insurance function, chemotherapy side effects, and rising healthcare costs. Breaking Bad does this by showcasing the mannerisms that Walter displays as well as the relationships these mannerisms effect. In Breaking Bad Walter has to resort to making and selling meth to pay for his treatment, Walter also endures the side effects of chemotherapy including erratic behavior caused by anxiety leading to Walter trying to kiss his boss and losing his job, and Walter’s first concern is not his survival but the financial wellbeing of his family leading to a strained relation between Walter and his wife due to Walter selling meth.

[benbengl102]

Health Insurance: It's as Clear as Mud

The United States health insurance structure is about as clear as mud. Through terminology that may seem foreign, all the way to how to obtain health insurance in the first place, the system is a huge cloud of smoke that is hard to navigate. In the television show Breaking Bad, Walter White has to face the harsh reality of this navigation head on. In the “Pilot” episode of Breaking Bad, Walter White is diagnosed with stage three lung cancer. Throughout the show we see Walter navigate this barbaric system while trying to obtain his treatment.

The United States health insurance system has some key terminology that we need to understand. Everyone who has health insurance pays a premium. A premium is a monthly payment that ensures your insurance. These premiums average $590 per month. In the United States, most employers cover a portion of this monthly premium for their employee’s health insurance, leaving the employee to pay an average of $114 a month for single coverage. The reason people pay these premiums is so that when they need to go to the doctor, dentist, optometrist, or fill prescriptions, they do not have to pay the full visit or prescription amount. Instead, they pay a deductible which is a portion of the cost. For example, if the employee has a surgical procedure that costs a total of $10,000 and their deductible for that service is $1,000, the employee will pay the first $1,000 and the insurance will cover the remaining $9,000 (Masterson, 2025).

The problem in this lies with people who have employers that will not pay for health insurance leaving them with a huge monthly payment. These people will either choose to be uninsured or pay a lower premium to be insured but have a higher deductible. Walter White was insured through his employer but it was not a good healthcare plan. This essentially led Walter to pay a lower premium but a higher deductible. When Walter eventually did have to go to the doctor for his cancer treatment, he had to pay $5000 per visit. This is a phenomenal highlight of how the American healthcare system leaves people behind. Despite being insured, Walter had to resort to making and selling meth to cover the cost of his treatment. This is a common occurrence for so many Americans. Despite being insured they find themselves unable to pay for the treatment they need. This causes so many people to resort to selling of their possessions, turning to illegal activities to pay for treatment, or even choosing not to receive treatment at all despite paying into their insurance.

[benbengl102]

There are more side effects than you think

Now that we have got an understanding of the healthcare system and how it functions, let us take a look at how health conditions can jeopardize people’s health insurance. Chemotherapy is a common treatment for cancer. This treatment runs through the whole body to target cancer cells but inadvertently targets healthy cells as well. This leads to side effects from the chemotherapy treatment. These side effects include but are not limited to concentration issues, fatigue, hair loss, nausea, and more (American Cancer Society medical and editorial content team, 2025). Walter White endured all of these side effects and had to manage them the best he could. One side effect he endured was severe anxiety that led to erratic behavior. This behavior ultimately causes Walter to make an advance on his boss, trying to kiss her. Walter is immediately confronted about this and is terminated from his job as a teacher, ultimately losing a source of income and his source of health insurance (Gilligan, 2008).

While Walter had another source of income that was able to cover the cost of his medical treatment, most Americans do not. Due to the way America’s healthcare system is set up losing your job often means losing your health insurance. This causes people to try and make it through work while obtaining treatment for a health issue to ensure they still can receive treatment, no matter what the side effects are. If they chose to take time off, they are subject to loss of their income. This can cause people to not have enough money to pay for the deductible on their health insurance, let alone food, rent, and other necessities. It is a horrific system that acts as a double-edged sword. The side effects affect their health, which affects their work, which affects their treatment. Any healthcare treatment that causes major side effects under the United States healthcare system is a vicious cycle.

[benbengl102]

American Healthcare: How Much Do I Owe?

Finally, we should explore how the American healthcare system is a deeply flawed system. America ranks among the lowest of wealthy countries in multiple aspects of healthcare. Some of these aspects include infant mortality rate and highest death rate for avoidable and treatable conditions. The United States healthcare system also leads many people to bankruptcy. Healthcare costs are so high that patients do not ask how the procedure will affect their bodies, instead opting to ask how much it will cost. Some patients even deny healthcare for fear of financial ruin for themselves or their family (Elsey, 2025).

Walter White did not have any money saved up for healthcare treatment due to a low paying job and had health insurance that did not cover enough. This caused Walter to make and sell meth in order to pay for his treatment. Walter also wanted to ensure that if he were to die, his family would have enough money to continue to live comfortably. Throughout the series Walter becomes more and more enveloped within organized crime, the cartel, and the effects his meth is causing on other people. Walter ruins multiple families in order to ensure his own will be alright with or without him. This puts a target on Walter’s family and ultimately leads to the death of his brother-in-law. Walter then hides away but returns to seek revenge for his family and ensure no one else is hurt (Gilligan, 2008). Walter making and selling meth ultimately leads to his death and separation from his family. In his attempt to protect his family he forced them into witness protection, caused the death of his brother-in-law, and caused his wife to leave him while she feared for her and the kids’ lives.

Many people who undergo cancer treatment may feel helpless. They may feel like they are a burden on their own family. Combine this with rising healthcare costs and you make a perfect scenario for despair. While the average American will not sell meth to pay for their healthcare treatment, they may feel like it would be easier to turn to crime to pay for treatment, many may even wish they had died from the cancer than live to pay the bill.

[benbengl102]

Who's Ready to Make Some Meth?

Throughout these blog posts I have highlighted how the television show Breaking Bad demonstrates the failings of the modern American healthcare system. We have seen how even though Walter had health insurance he still had to pay massive amounts out of pocket, suffer side effects causing him to lose his job and insurance, and turn to making and selling meth to pay for his treatment leading to the separation between him and his family. All of these points showcase different failings of the United States healthcare system. I hope my blog posts help you imagine what it would be like in Walter’s shoes. How far would you have gone to ensure your treatment was paid for? How would the side effects of chemotherapy have affected your life? More importantly, what can we do to fix this broken healthcare system that we have?

[benbengl102]

Works Cited

American Cancer Society medical and editorial content team. “Chemotherapy Side Effects.” American Cancer Society, 15 May 2025. https://www.cancer.org/cancer/managing-cancer/treatment-types/chemotherapy/chemotherapy-side-effects.html. Accessed 2 September 2025.

Elsey, James. “US Healthcare System Is in Crisis.” American College of Surgeons, 5 February 2025. https://www.facs.org/for-medical-professionals/news-publications/news-and articles/bulletin/2025/february-2025-volume-110-issue-2/us-healthcare-system-is-in-crisis/. Accessed 2 September 2025.

Gilligan, Vince, director. Breaking Bad. AMC, 2008

Masterson, Les. “What Is Health Insurance? And How Does It Work?” Forbes, 4 August 2025. https://www.forbes.com/advisor/health-insurance/what-is-health-insurance/. Accessed 2 September 2025.