Each year challenges my wife and I with less coverage, limited practictioner options, generic Rx with known personal ineffectiveness, and, of course, a bigger chunk of our budget (and less take-home salary). We need to provide quality healthcare at a reasonable price to protect our economy from the impact of a massive generation of retirees stresses the industry. Story: We live in Vancouver WA and our Health plan is managed in Portland OR. Alternative Care (chiropractor, ...) is a mandate in WA but not OR. We must pay out-of-pocket... (more)

I have quality health care through Medicare. Every American deserves quality health care. Give us real health care reform with a single-payer choice.

My dad has Hepatitis C and has had it for 10 years. He recently was on a maintenance program, part of a study, and this program worked for him. Overall the study showed the maintenance program did not work. Once the health insurance company got the report, they stopped paying for that medicine. It is $2,000 a month for that prescription. Since they will not pay, my dad has had another relapse and has to wait another year for something new to come out to try. He is sick today because of the lack of compassion in the health care industry.

I urge you to take a stand against the interests of the insurance lobby and pass legislation that will provide my family and millions of others with affordable health care. Because my husband and I are both self employed as mental health therapists, who live in WA state where the private insurance options are very bleak, we would be forced to pay very high premiums for very limited coverage. I am affected by the limiting policies of the insurance industry as both a consumer and as a health care provider. Many patients who wish to see me for... (more)

I am a type-one insulin-dependent diabetic who has had NO healthcare since 2006. I don't want to go blind, a major side effect from this disease, but without regular checkups by an eye doctor that could very well happen. Also, my required for living prescription drugs have doubled in cost in the last 3 years. I want single payer, not for profit universal healthcare for everyone.

I work for the largest HMO in the US, as a nursing manager responsible for electronic documentation in home health and hospice. We have high quality and high customer satisfaction for our members. The problem is so many unisured, raising costs for everyone. Maybe one day we will have single payer. But in the meanwhile, open up Medicare to the uninsured, non-retirees, self employed and unemployed. Cover their opt in costs through a new uninsured Medicare tax on everyone with a job, and an additional premium for those who opt in. Grow Medicare... (more)

I work in the healthcare field. I currently work in an environment in which we sell the insurance and provide the care. We have electronic medical records and can provide comprehensive health care to individuals due to this excellent tool that allows not only the Doctors and Health Care providers to communicate, but also allows the patient to interact with their health care provider directly. Integrated health care systems provide efficient and effective and PREVENTITIVE health care. I have also had to deal with "outside" health care... (more)

Laid off as an executive at HP after 25 years at age 48, I had to find personal health insurance for my family of 5, or face 18 months of high-cost COBRA insurance benefits. For a brief period, we were unsure if we would be accepted by a new insurer, given some test results (benign) that my wife had from a cyst on her liver some months earlier. While we were eventually offered the high-deductible policy from the insurer we applied to, I was reminded how many Americans with far less ability to pay are facing elimination of their... (more)

I am fortunate to work for a company that provides excellent health insurance for my family. I have had an increase in co-pays etc. but overall, I am truly lucky. That makes me sad. I should be amoung the majority not the minority. I lost my mother to cancer last summer. Her journey was brave but so very hard to witness. In her case, Medicare and her supplemental insurance paid nearly everything, and that was a staggering amount! I worry about the next mother, father, family member, that is on Medicare won't fair as well as my mom did. ... (more)

One of my mother's best friends died a few years back because she was told she needed her gallbladder out, but delayed the procedure beacuse she had no health insurance. She ended up having a gallstone blocking her bile duct which lead to pancreatitis which ultimately killed her. She could have survived so easily if she could have had surgery in a timely manner. She was an incredible nationally known calligraphy artist that was lost too soon.

As a health care worker I find absolutely offending that every american is not covered by health care insurance. Recently my son had to quite his job because of cronic back pain and with the loss of his he also had lost his health care. How is anyone who loses their job because of poor health suppose to afford treatment for that poor health without insurance? Lets get this done and done right as soon as possible for all of us!

I am a health care provider. Acupuncture is my field and I am in hopes that as this new health care plan develops, there is more consideration to integrating all the the modalities of medicine. Everyone needs health care and they all need to have choices as to the type of healthcare that serves their needs. Many people in this country have now benefited greatly from oriental medicine and the overall cost of this approach to healthcare is substantially less than western medicine. These things need to be taken into consideration when... (more)

National Health Care Reform and Me I have been a practicing physician -- family practice doctor, Foreign Service medical officer, ER physician, VA administrator, and medical informatician -- for 39 years. I will be 65 next month. I left clinical ER practice in 1995 and now work in medical informatics part-time for an Electronic Health Record (HER) company in Pennsylvania. I am fairly active physically, limited only by foot and leg problems. My intellectual functioning remains exceptional and undiminished. Based on my experience, the... (more)

One of my best friend's just lost her husband to cancer. His medical costs for the last few months were close to 2 million dollars. He was well insured and had medicare coverage. He was also a veteran of the Second World War. My friend, his widow, is looking at loosing her house because the insurance companies are not covering these costs. This is insane. He would never have incurred any costs if he thought his insurance was not going to cover it. Not only do we need National health care. We need to be sure that health care reform is... (more)

I'm 79 years old, soon to be 80 and I'm on Medicare. But I do remember when I was young I had insurance through my husband's employer and it was very reasonable and it was there for me and my family when we needed it. I can't believe that so many people are unable to afford insurance, because we were so fortunate, and I think its important that we do something about the high costs. Everyone should be able to afford good health care for themselves and their families. Please help. Thank you, Shirley Edgar

A few years ago, my husband's employer went bankrupt and he was unemployed for several months. We have 4 children and had to pay COBRA health insurance premiums for many months. This greatly depleted our savings. Now we are struggling to pay our mortgage on a house that is worth $100,000+ less than our mortgage debt. I do not believe that health insurance should be tied to your employer. It should be a right, not a priveledge. I heard a news report a few years back about a child who died from an infected tooth because he did not have... (more)

We are small business owners, we have 30 employees, we offer Kaiser health care if the employee can pay half the premium. Only 6 employees are on the plan. 24 struggle to make ends meet. All need basic health care. Many have children.

My monthly premium for a family of 4 with a $1500 deductible cost $1500/ mo. I had to change to a Med Sav Acct with a $6500 deductible. Basically, a healthy family which goes for normal check ups must pay $12,000 yr. for bad coverage insurance.I think that is too much. And there are only about 5 carriers in WA state!

When my mom was laid off by the bank she worked at for 16 years, (because of a takeover) she had healthcare coverage for 6 months and then it was gone. She was faced with either paying out of pocket, $400 a month, or pay her house payment. She obviously chose to pay her house payment. For 3 years she lived without health insurance, just hoping and praying that she didn't get sick or hurt and put our entire family in financial jeapordy. Finally, my husband and I along with my brother and his wife, decided to pay for her health care until she... (more)

The costs for providing health care coverage for our employees in a small law firm are skyrocketing. One of our employees turned 60 and an additional cost was added to our premium. We were forced to get quotes and change carriers to the lowest cost option. We are struggling with slow business along with many others. The high cost of health care was a contributing factor in our need to cut employee hours.