When my younger brother died, my father walked out and filed for divorce. My mother who was grieving had a heart attack and was taken to the ER. We discovered that my father had cancelled her health insurance. The admissions rep told me that my mom could not be admitted and she needed to be transferred to a county hospital. While the resident on duty in ER fought to schedule her for open heart surgery, I called the insurance company and was told that they would not reinstate her coverage as a spouse because she obviously had a "pre-existing condition". My mom was fortunate enough to have the surgery, however I had to clean out my savings to pay a deposit to the hospital and her bills came to $90,000. It was a serious struggle that has changed all of our lives. Paying those bills ruined our credit, which in turn seriouslly impacts your future - now my employer has shut down and I cannot afford the COBRA payments. A single-payer system is the only way to keep nightmares like this from happening. To have a non-medical representative tell you to take your mom to another hospital while in the ER????? The legislators who do not support universal healthcare should try going without health insurance, or savings - walk a mile in our shoes before advocating for private for profit insurance.