My mother, a legal resident alien and tax-payer since 1993 lives in Knoxville TN and has been WITHOUT ANY healthcare insurance since TennCare terminated thousands upon thousands of enrollees in the early part of this decade. Likwe many without insurance, her health has seen a rapid decline without the benefits of regular visits to a physician. This decline has culminated in several preventable but costly visits to the emergency room. If you don't act now, you will exacerbate the crisis for all Americans' children and grandchildren! Thank... (more)

the deductable cost alone keeps me from taking good care of myself. The is a problem for all americans where we wait until we are completely sick to see the doctor, while preventive care with low deductables would save the USA millions of dollars.

Significant other can not get coverage as he is considered uninsurable from back surgeries and colon surgeries.

Been out of work over a year now..no insurance and the dr.s are too expensive to pay for with my unemployment...just hope i wont have a stroke or accident that is going to kill me or mame...living on the edge is not easy...especially when u r used to the simple things...i.e. health care and daily medications..i.e. high blood pressure, cholesterol...diabetes meds...the little things.

I have two comments: 1. For several years I was self-employed and I paid for my own insurance. In that period, the costs increased about 15% for a moderate level of coverage. This was much greater than the rate of inflation at that time. Something was wrong. Regardless, I am grateful that I was able to afford that insurance. However, I personally know many others who could not. I firmly believe in the importance of this being a universal system - so that all are covered. I know this means putting my money where my mouth is - to pay into a... (more)

I know firsthand how spiraling costs (prescriptions, premiums, procedures) are making it very difficult for families to protect themselves against ruin from a damaging illness or accident. I am a health insurance broker and I work with 13 different companies. I see firsthand how families and individuals must scramble to get coverage; to change coverage for lesser benefits or higher deductibles and co-insurance when they get that letter from Aetna, or Golden Rule, or Assurant, or United Healthcare, or Blue Cross Blue Shield, telling them the... (more)

I am a retired US Army Viet Nam Vet. I have skin cancer and have had a minor stoke. Doc thinks maybe I just had another minor stoke, not sure yet. I also have a wife and a 11 year old son. Health care costs are going thru the roof. Not sure how much longer we can afford the premiums & copay. Recession hurting us real bad. Doctors, hospitals & drugs are going into outer space. Nobody seems to care. Some times I think I would be better dead.

Hi my name is Glinis Martinez and i am 17 years old. Last August i went to get a sport physical anmd the doctor told me i couldnt play because i have excersise induced asthma. I have had this all of my life and just now they are figuring that out. My mom can't afford to take me to a pulmonologist so i just don't exercise and my cholesterol is beginning to get high, even though i eat all the righth food.

I've gone most of my life without good health care. Fortunately I have a job that has that perk, but the costs rise every year for them and for me. It's a shame that we have to accept lower wages to compensate for our health care. Many now, like I had to in my past, work the job they can get to survive in the struggling economy. Sometimes I would work 2 to 3 jobs just to survive and if I got sick, it was too bad. I made too much money to receive government help and too little to go to a doctor. Never mind the physicals and everyday care... (more)

I work for a Health Care program for the State of Tennessee. Over the past 8 years, this program has disenrolled critically ill citizens whose health and well being depended solely on this program. Some may say this occurred due to health care cost, others may say this occurred due to mis-appropriation of federal dollars by both enrollees as well as contracted health care providers which cost Tennessee taxpayers millions if not billions in lost revenue. Whether one or both are true, I have witnessed citizens who are on ventilators, bed-ridden,... (more)

I do not have healthcare because I was laid off from Continumm Healthcare last May. Here it is almost to the day I was laid off and I have not any healthcare benefits. I am not able to afford the services for an annual due to me being a high risk of breat cancer. If I God forbid spring my ankle (again) I will not be able to pay that doctor bill. My cousin and I was discussing about the healthcare crisis and how its a shame that it's the law to have car insurance, but half of the population are not covered under a insurance policy at least to... (more)

My wife and I haven't been able to afford health insurance for both of us since she worked for a health insurance agency. Her job was to help deny claims!!

I started 6 years ago with a premium of 264.00 per month for a family of 4, great coverage, never a problem with my insurance not paying their part, now my bill is 527.00 per month for a family of 4, and getting higher every 6 months or so. Our wages, as self employed American bricklayer and stay home mother running our business out of our home have gone down significantly since the Hispanic population has risen so drastically in the past 5 years and now the recession has hit us hard. We're on the verge of choosing to pay our mortgage or pay... (more)

I martin cunningham have been battling colen cancer from 2003 till now i pray to god that i am not abale two pay my bills and get my medicen if it was not for my cancer docter and sara cannon and the good lord i would not be hear.i am in remistion and hope to god i stay that way.Cost for health care is two high as it is me and my wife are not makeing it i am 52 years old been marred for 35 years and have worked just about all my life. I all ways beleaved in our government and i beleave in PRESIDENT OBAMA will prevail for use AMAIRICAN... (more)

I am self-employed and I have no health insurance. I go to a low income clinic that does not provide all of the care that I really need. I pay on a sliding scale. The doctor does what she can but, no x-rays, mammograms, etc. No test to follow up on things that are of concern to me. I get a check up and prescription, that's it. I have to make sure all my prescriptions are generic because I can't afford name brand. Recently, I was suffering with pain in my legs but, the doctor at the clini couldn't help me, just give me medication. I don't... (more)

"Health care"remains the property of pharmaceuticals and insurance companies who control the mindsets of the American people....we need freedom to teach real medicine in this country. Break the chains of pills and palliative 'medicine'. Support unaltered foods, herbal wellness practices,homeopathy, chiropractic,and non-synthetic natural practices. The FDA is a joke.The AMA and ADA right there with it;only taking responsibility when the numbers harmed by these horrid practices and products are too large to silence. It is my story, it... (more)

I don't have any health care coverage

Year 2006 I was diagnosed with Adrenal exhaustion, which effects the endocrine system. As A type personality I was bedridden for 3 months. The AMA would have diagnosed my condition as depression. I choose alternative health and used nutrition, rest and meditation to heal. Unfortunately there is no coverage for preventive or alternative health regimes. I want to have these health choices supported financially. Thank you for listening.

My wife, Jane, and I are seniors with a fixed income. We were without coverage for a long time until we enrolled in Cover Tennessee, which still costs us $320.00 per month for minimal coverage. We survive financially from month to month, and to receive an equitable health care package would be a major relief for the both of us. We look forward to a new hope, to the realization of an old dream, to the creation of a better America built on change. We are already thankful for the positive shifts that have taken place due to our new... (more)

My wife had to have an MRI and I was required to pay over $900.00 out of pocket. And this was January 2009..I pay approx. 275.00 a month and my employer pay an equal amount or more. i just feel the prices of medication and co-pay is to much for people that earns less than $50,000.00 a year.