The other day my accountant just about fell out of his chair. Why? He couldn't believe how much my wife and I had paid for health care premiums and deductibles in 2008: just over $24,000. My wife and I own our own business. We gross just under $95,000/year. Neither I nor my wife or two kids have cancer or need dialysis or any other expensive treatment. We're all fairly healthy. The problem is, the insurance company knows we need health insurance and that we have "pre-existing conditions." So they can charge whatever they want, and they do. And because of "pre-existing conditions," other insurance companies turn us down or rate us as highly as our current company. We are middle-class and we pay our fair share of taxes. It's our civic duty. However, I'm tired of giving my hard-earned cash to insurance companies. My wife wouldn't mind if they all dried up and went out of business. Me, I think we need a public option to compete with these modern-day robber barons. Go Obama!