Our story is not dramatic or unusual -- we are self-employed, have always worked and paid our bills. We are pretty solidly middle class with good educations. We make a comfortable living EXCEPT there is no way we can afford health insurance... for my husband it is the "pre-existing conditions" issue (high blood pressure and type II). On the other hand, I am 45 and healthy as can be, yet one month of health insurance coverage for me is more than I have ever spent on it in a year!?! There has got to be a better way. Affordable, quality... (more)

Although I have very good health insurance through my employer, I have friends who receive similar salaries to mine but have very poor or no health insurance and cannot obtain medical treatment that they need. In particular, I have had two back surgeries that were covered by my insurance...a friend with similar salary and poor insurance also has serious back problems but cannot have hers corrected. This situation should not be allowed to occur.

I am on the administrative team of a private not-profit agency that provides home and community based services for elderly and people with disabilities, as well as services for welfare to work families and coordinated public transit. Our agency continues to struggle to provide health care coverage for our employees. Every year the premiums increase. Just this month we received notice that the premiums will go up 24% from last year's. As an agency, we are way beyond our fiancial capability to provide health insurance. And yet, we will lose... (more)

I'M A SINGLE MOTHER OF 2 AND SPEND OVER 100.00 A MONTH IN HEATH CARE COSTS. THAT DOES NOT INCLUDE MY 5000.00 DEDUCTIBLE IF SOMETHING WERE TO HAPPEN OR MY 300.00 PRESCRIPTION DEDUCTIBLE IF I NEEDED MEDICATION. I SPEND MORE IN HEALTH CARE THAN ALL OF MY DEDUCTIONS FOR TAXES. THESE COSTS ARE JUST FOR ME ALONE, MY CHILDREN ARE NOT EVEN ON THE PLAN. I AM 30YRS OLD, NO HEALTH ISSUES, NO PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS, AND NEVER BEEN IN SURGERY. THIS IS JUST AN OUTRAGE! AT LEAST MY COMPANY IS ABLE TO HELP WITH HEALTH CARE INSURANCE... FOR THEM TO EVEN... (more)

I recently lost my health care coverage because the expense was more than I could afford. It no longer covered my prescription costs either. So now I have absolutely NO coverage. I buy $250 worth of prescriptions per month which I know isn't really as high as a lot of people but it is for me.

I have been working in the healthcare feild since 1983. Most recently as a full time respite caregiver for a local family. My client has "Picks" desease and recently has been hospitilized....I am out of work, have not had health insurance for years and will be living on unemployment till another door opens up.....It wouldn't surprise me if there are hundreds of thousands of Americans out there -- who do not have any healthcare coverage.... I would like to see that every American Citizen has health care coverage, including, vision and... (more)

My daughter has lived in Chicago, Illinois for over 4 years. Monday of this week, she lost her job. The only health care insurance she could obtain was through her partner's work with Northern Trust. He lost his job on Monday as well. My daughter has health issues and has not been able to secure health insurance on her own because of pre-exiting conditions. Now, she is faced with no income, no housing, and no health care. She is lucky because she has supportive family members who can reach out to her and help her get back on her... (more)

I know about health care from both sides: being employed by a large institution that provides good coverage and working for a small non-profit that could not afford to have a comprehensive program for its employees. For most of my life I did not qualify for any insurance and went without - until I was into my fifties. Until I started to work for the University of Alaska I had only major medical - enough to prevent me from bankruptcy. I saw the quarterly cost of that increase 300% during the Bush administration, and it wasn't because I had any... (more)

About eight years ago, I had some chest pains after exertion. I went to a local internist in Stillwater, Minnesota who referred me to a heart center in the Twin Cities. They arranged for further diagnostic work and then I chose to go to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. They found significant blockage and did quadruple bypass surgery before the week was out. I am fortunate enough to have an excellent health care policy from Alaska as a retired teacher. Without that I could never have paid for the surgery without it I would have a... (more)

My father smoked heavily all his life - maybe from age 5 or 6. During the years it was not considered a vice and in fact a desirable habit, with such misconception promoted by the tobaco companies for many years after evidence in direct contradiction had been validate. After diagnosis, which probably came a year after he knew, but was reluctant to go to the doctor about, because he knew the costs of treatment would bankrupt the family, or the house would be lost in return for his long term care. So he sacrifice himself for his wife and... (more)

I have worked in hospital billing offices in different hospitals for over 20 years since 1980. I am seeing how insurance companies pay less for services such as routine health checkups and things like colonoscopies which are necessary as you get older. Also insurance companies will pay what they consider USUAL AND CUSTOMARY for what they say is according to your geographic area, etc. So instead of paying 80% of the charges, they will pay maybe 50%. This happened when my husband was seriously ill in the hospital and had to have surgery. They... (more)

I can't afford health insurance, and my job does not supply it. I am taking preventative health measures, but right now my dental costs are keeping me poor. Life is OK now, but disaster could strike and everything would be upside down. Basic health care ought to be the right of every American. It is a great shame that the public 'servants' in government get a cadillac of insurance coverage while the people they 'serve' must sputter along in a broken down wreck or do without. I'm proud of the president for making this a priority and hope... (more)

I have hemophilia which requires very expensive treatment, and unlike some other diseases it is a lifelong condition with consistent high costs. Insurance, particularly the lifetime maximum cap, is the deciding factor for much of mine and my family's lives. My first job was as a teacher in a remote Yupik eskimo village in western Alaska. My wife and I both worked there for three years; however, we could not consider staying because I had reached my lifetime cap on my employer's insurance. We had to move to a new town where I found a new... (more)

A single payer health care system is the only acceptable reform. Get it right or you loose my support.

I work in the school, as a teacher's aid.I live in the small town Petersburg,on the Mitkof Island in the South East of Alaska. We have a great school, and 200 high school students. My annual income 13250. I pay $700 for the health insurance for the whole family. It is too much. Plus insurance covers just 80% of my medical expenses. Please, Mr. President, help us to change this situation.

I was working selling cell phones,in 1998 when I had a horrible burn to my face and neck from my Motorola Star Tac which exceeded the Safe Absortion Level of Microwave & RF Radiatio levels and was now plumbing out of the phone burning my eyes, ears, sinus, brain, face, and hands, and caused me to be alergic to Electricity.... computors, phones, office equipment, typing this is very difficult and I must to it in intervals with special gloves on. I was left unable to work and for the last 13 yrs I have been in a dispute with Motorola and... (more)

I am an A B I survivor and Advocate for head and brain injury awareness. There is not enough care and rehabilitation for stroke and head injury survivors world wide. There are almost 2 million people head injured every year in the US, and 1.5 million in the U K. The statistics around the rest of the world are just as frightening. Head and brain injury is the "silent epidemic" and at the bottom of the list in medicine. I protest against the use of the antiquated and demeaning terminology 'brain damage' as opposed to the more... (more)

This is just a comment from a Cdn that is so happy we have healthcare here that isn't based on whether you can afford it!! Americans: Please do not listen to that Cdn woman's story about having to go to the US for treatment..... If everything she states was true, there would have been a huge public outcry, and heads would have rolled!!! There is NO WAY a person in Canada, with a life threatening situation, would have to wait 3 to 6 mo. to see a specialist!! Or to get treatment!! That is unadulterated BS!!! Health care for all is a... (more)

Just wanted to post again to say - Americans Unite!! Do not let the health insurance companies win!!! In 7/2000, I was admitted thru Emergency, with only a 30% chance of surviving. 2 operations, and two months later, I was released .. I had home health care (incl. bathing), as well as home services (cleaning, etc). 2x week for 3 months afterward. This did not cost me! Why? Because we have universal health care.. had this happened in the States, I'd have lost my home and everything I owned!! I have relatives in the States, my... (more)

I am an American who is forced to stay in Canada because I could not return to US and get coverage for my 6 year old with a rare auto-immune disease. Watch my story on You Tube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TWuO5dBYjo Please pass it along! -Kat