Every time we hear of a person working 40 hours a week yet qualifying for food stamps, or a family going bankrupt from a single medical bill, the Breaking Bad Index ticks upward. The genius of Vince Gilligan’s creation is that it makes us ask, “There but for the grace of a good insurance plan go I.” And the purpose of the Breaking Bad Index is to remind us that the goal of a just society should be to keep that index at zero—not through harsher drug laws, but by ensuring that no one ever feels that the only way to provide for their family is to break the law. After all, the real villain of Breaking Bad was never Walter White; it was the system that convinced him he had no other choice.