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 exhausting, but almost turned me into an emotionally broken person. I had a trapped radial nerve in the forearm called Wartonberg's Syndrome. After five failed surgeries to relieve my suffering, I eventually underwent a procedure called a full thoracic sympathectomy. It left me without the full use of my arm and hand, along with other disabling side effects. The pain was so significant, I contemplated suicide. As I struggled to survive the physical pain and deformaties, I found myself without a job and without health insurance. Although I received Medicare, the bills were mounting by the day. The minimal amount of prescription coverage under Medicare lasted two months before I fell into the "donut hole." My medications alone were running $15,000.00 per year. Because of my age, I was too young to get a supplemental policy. During this entire life-changing, life-destroying illness, I had to file bankruptcy twice, lost my home, my friends, and ultimately because of financial pressures, my marriage. The horrible humiliation of having to deal with unforgiving debt collectors telephoning constantly, mail coming to my home obviously from attorneys, having to return my automobile to the dealership which left me with no transportation and the need to rely on a friend to take me wherever I needed to go, was almost more than I could bear. To be sick in this country is tantamount to becoming a pariah. I now have nothing left but the hope that President Obama is going to change things for others who have also traveled the path of hopelessness because of something they could not help, did not want, and was sentenced to forever. There is so much therapy I desperately need that Medicare doesn't cover, so many prescriptions I can not live without that do not fall under the "formulary, and so many hospital bills that if I could pay even a paultry amount, I will be straddled with from now until I die.

It is unconscionable that after a lifetime of hard work, I find myself at 56 no better off than if I had never lifted "a finger" to provide for myself and my family at all. The depression that comes with a debilitating illness washes over me every day. But...I am still hopefull. Even though I am unable to do most menial of tasks, I traveled from Atlanta to Texas during the primaries to canvas and work towards a change. A change that will perhaps save others who find themselves in my position the all encompassing loss that comes from becoming a sick person in America. Where is the moral compass of our insurance companies? Our government? I hope we are able to find it through this administration's fight for equality in healthcare we all deserve as human beings. I myself am still fighting the fight, but quickly losing ground. I only pray these changes will come soon enough to help me. If not, then I hope one small thing I can say or do will help in this battle. Sincerely, Jana Elliott.