Friday, November 2, 2012 | 7:30 p.m. CDT; updated 11:46 a.m. CDT, Saturday, November 3, 2012

COLUMBIA A blow to the knee meant more than pain and discomfort for law student Katherine Sheffield it meant $3,000 in medical bills, not including a future surgery.

Because of the Affordable Care Act, Sheffield, 24, will be covered under her stepfathers insurance plan until she's 26. Before the health care act, young people could be removed from their parents insurance plans as early as 19.

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The actual (cost of) surgery will be outrageous, Sheffield said. So yeah, as an indebted 24-year-old, Im pretty darn thankful for insurance.

Sheffield said health care will be on her mind when she goes to the polls Tuesday.

Health care is a hot-button issue this election season, with most discussions focusing on the Affordable Care Act. When asked how large a role health care would play at the polls on Nov. 6, Columbia residents had a variety of responses.

Nationally, health care is ranked second after jobs and the economy in the top spot on the list of issues that would influence people's voting decision, according to a study by the Harvard School of Public Health.

That's the highest health care has ranked as a presidential election issue since 1992, according to researchers.

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Health care on minds of Columbia voters