My Experience as an American Type-1 Diabetic: It was perhaps two weeks before my high school graduation. I had loaded my senior year schedule with Advanced Placement classes—five of them—in order to both challenge myself and to give a favorable impression to the universities I was applying to. At the end of May I had completed all five AP tests, and in the interim I was studying for the rest of my finals, looking always forward to that long-awaited reward, the golden chalice at the end of years of hard work and dedicated study. I had... (more)

My 15-month-old daughter suffered head/neck trauma after a fall. I got a busy tone when I repeatedly dialed 911, so I transported her to the nearest ER, which had a line out the door. I took her to a second ER, where we were ignored for more than an hour as we watched the triage nurse handle the colds and backaches of the working poor and uninsured who had no alternative for care. A woman who was begging to "jump the line" and get care for her critically ill brother was turned over to security and the police. When we asked for a... (more)

Dear Mr. President, My name is Richard and I work in one of the large hospitals here in downtown New Orleans and I would like to share not a story, but rather, a perspective. Working in an urban hospital in New Orleans has been one of the most eye-opening experiences of my entire life. Coming from Dallas, TX where there are dozens of beautiful hotel-esque hospitals it was a real shock to come to downtown New Orleans and see the sad state of healthcare here. I see the homeless and destitute wondering the streets, many of who have little... (more)

Hello, I'm a 25 years old and was diagnosed with breast cancer at 24. My insurance though my workplace did not cover cancer as it was a preventive plan, therefore it only covered 50% of cancer treatments as long as they were in network. Not to mention my workplace had changed my plan 3 times in 6 months in order to cut their expenses on the cost of healthcare for employees, this meant my co pays were 50$ a visit no matter what. Additionally because of the constant changing the benefits the plans provided changed constantly. Since my age and... (more)

My name is Jana Elliott and I am a disabled American. In 1996, I was working for a prestigous law firm here in Atlanta. As I was working one afternoon, a terrific pain shot through my index finger on my right hand. At that time, I just shook it off. Ten months and six arm surgeries later, I found myself without a job and waging a war with the Social Security Administration to receive the disability payments I worked for all of my adult life. The struggle to get the benefits I fully and justifiable deserved was not only physically... (more)

I graduated from medical school last week and will shortly start my residency in family medicine. From this vantage point in my career, I have already been privileged to be a part of many people's lives. Doctors see people at their best and at their worst. We assist at birth and death. We comfort the mundanely curable and the tragically terminal. Frankly, we see some very unsettling things, the depths of human suffering. Yet, for me personally, the most disturbing part of medicine is the impact of medical cost on patients. The... (more)

My son has had to endure the heartache of watching his young adult life pass him by without much participation while he battled the pains associated with severe scoliosis and epileptic seizures because he could not afford appropriate healthcare and the much needed medication. I have had to watch my Mother slowly and painfully die each day for two months because her family doctor refused to send her for appropriate tests--because he was incented to avoid refering her to "specialists". As a result what her doctor insisted was... (more)

I manage a small nonprofit agency which serves victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. Several years ago, we had to sue our health insurance carrier and local insurance agent when the insurance provider stopped paying employees' claims. Today, we have another much more expensive plan for full-time employees. Premium costs increase by 10% - 11% each year despite the fact we have had no employees with costly medical procedures or lengthy illnesses. The only way we can afford the coverage is to purchase a policy with a high... (more)

I am a 32-year-old MBA and was working in Mergers and Acquisitions for an energy company in Houston when I was laid off one year ago and lost my medical benefits. I did not elect to purchase COBRA because the cost was $800/month. After I lost my job, I developed a dental abcess requiring a $1200 root canal. Although I knew the abcess was serious, I was so concerned about keeping my rent paid and credit cards paid so that my credit was not ruined during unemployment that I put the procedure off month after month. Over one year I have... (more)

For 22 years, I lived in Israel, where they have national health insurance. In 1994, my father-in-law suffered a stroke. He was in the hospital for one week. After that, he was transferred to a live-in rehab center for the next 2 1/2 months. The cost for all this care: $80. In the United States, he would have lost his home to get care like that. He came out a functional human being from his treatment. This story explains why I am fully for health care reform in the United States. Health care cannot be a for-profit business and still give... (more)

I do not have health insurance because when I did, they would not even cover 5 dollars off of a doctors bill. I was paying right around $400.00 a month and it kept going higher. I have not been to my doctor in over 2 yrs because I am still paying off a &500.00 doctor bill. Every month the interest goes higher which makes it hard to get a clean balance. I have finally got it down to 200.00 and I received a letter today telling me that if it is not paid in 10 days it goes to collection and I will have to pay cash to even see my doctor.Now... (more)

I am an "unemployed" caregiver of my mother (age 89) who has mid-level Alzheimer's. 6.5 years I've done this. She can never be left alone. She attends (at her cost) a senior day health program. I get room and board and the county has allowed me $10 day for my expenses. Do the math. Her coverage is fine, but I have had nothing in the 7.5 years I've cared for her. Did you know in most states relatives are not ALLOWED to be paid to provide caregiving for a relative? Sure this is to prevent financial abuse, but it leaves us do-gooders... (more)

i'm 22. i've NEVER had heath insurance, not dental, not vision, not medical..nothing. i was raised by my father, who is self-employed (who's never had health insurance himself), and he struggled to keep the both of us afloat while i was a child. he was in a motorcycle wreck when he was in his 20's. he broke both of his legs, and one of his legs STILL has a gaping hole in it from the bolts he had in it. and in high school, he was struck in the eye with a football, and now his entire right eye socket is sunk in (he can still see however).... (more)

Many young people don't see a problem with the health insurance system we have because they are healthy. The problem is that, no matter how many years you pay into the system, the minute you get sick or old, your opinion will change. I paid into the same insurance company for more than 30 years. It was a high deductible plan and I never had a claim and never cost them any money. The minute I turned 50, they tried everything in their power to push me out. I was still healthy with no outstanding issues, but every time I went to the doctor,... (more)

Dear Mr Obama, In 1982, I was diagnosed with Hodgkins Disease. Although radiation treatments successfully put the disease in remission, I was told that it has a tendency to come back, so, I knew that health insurance would be of critical importance to me. I received my Ph.D. in 1995, in Adult and Continuing Education, along with a university teaching award and good start on that publishing thing. It came as a shock to me that there were virtually no adult education jobs to even apply for in academia or outside it that had health insurance... (more)

Three weeks ago I was diagnosed with cellulitis, a serious and deadly staph infection. I was laid off in February and have no health insurance. I was treated at a local sliding scale clinic and was "this" close to being put in the hospital. If that had happened, I would have been financially ruined ... homeless and penniless. I must have angels. I only had to pay for three doctor's visits and two different kinds of antibiotics (thanks to a prescription program for generic drugs, I was able to shave the cost of drugs but one of... (more)

Well, this is my girlfriend's "heathcare" story. She was diagnosed with stones in her gallbladder, and needed surgery. She has "insurance." Once all was said and done, the hospital sent her a bill for nearly $7000, and the doctors and the lab sent her another $3000 in bills for her "deductibles" on top of the $32,000 the insurance company paid the hospital. She pays $210 a month for her premium and this is what she gets!!! Unless the members of Congress are denied their own fancy health insurance, nothing... (more)

My name is Ilene R. Brenner, MD, and I am an ER doctor. The criticisms of taxing health care benefits don't make much sense - here's why: The average person likely does not realize that the tax incentive for employers to offer health insurance mainly benefits high income employees. That is because the monies given as a health insurance benefit are untaxed. Therefore, if you don't pay much tax, you don't get much benefit. You think you are getting "free" insurance from you employer, but you are actually getting paid lower wages... (more)

Shared in a letter to the President May 16, 2009. My husband, mother and I moved to Western Canada in the mid 1980's to have an adventure in the Canadian Rockies. In addition to all the natural beauty around us, we were amazed at the ease with which we were able to get the health care we needed. My mother is a retired nurse who worked most of her career in newborn constant care and intensive care nurseries. When she and I visited the gynecologist for the first time, she was amazed that all the pregnant women and their families in the... (more)

I know a man that went to a private MD, but after paying for a CATSCAN, etc, he knew he couldn't afford to keep going to her so she referred him to the local county hospital because she thought he had emphysema. However, the county hospital couldn't see him for about 6 months and then took too much time again. By the time he was diagnosed properly, it was determined he had lung cancer and that the cancer had spread to his liver. This is a hard-working man, soft-spoken humble man who worked as a gardener and due to his low income did not get... (more)