My husband and I are in business for ourselves for less than two years now. When my husband left his corporate job to join me in opening a local pub, we went out into the private marketplace to purchase individual health insurance. Because we live in PA, where every child is guaranteed healthcare, our children are covered. At first my husband and I were denied coverage due to pre-existing conditions. We are fairly young and fit, so I can't imagine how hard it is out there for older or less well people. We eventually settled for... (more)

I have 3 sons between the ages of 22 and 32 and they are all in business for themselves. None of them have healthcare because of the cost. My middle son needed work done on his teeth and the cost was well over 3000.00, without insurance. I was a passenger in a car accident. A transit bus ran into the back of the car that I was in and I only had 5,000 in injury benefits on my auto policy because my husband used to have good healthcare from work but in January they changed HMO's to cut costs and now the new carrier won't pay for an MRI that... (more)

My mother - in - law recently passed away from breast cancer. She didn't go to the doctor regularly because she couldn't afford the health insurance. By the time she realized she had cancer, it was at stage 4. She was 49 when she was diagnosed and 51 when she passed away. If she could have afforded health insurance, she would have been able to catch the disease earlier and would have had better odds at surviving.

I am a breast cancer surviver. Without health insurance and medicine coverage I would not have gone into remission. I am 72 years old and retired. Please help all the senior citizens that require health care. I volunteer with the American Cancer Society. I have for 16 years. I work with only breast cancer women..I have seen women go without food to pay for health care in medicine...this is America and we have worked hard all our lives to help America become a leading country in health....don't let us down now...pass a bill assuring all... (more)

My name is Jacqueline and I am a 35 year old woman living with renal failure for 30 years. I have received two kidney transplants from loving family members and I am currently in renal failure due to a chronic rejection of my second transplant. Routine physician visits, multiple prescriptions, bloodwork, and and injection therapy to to battle my chronic anemia are a part of my everyday life. A large portion of these services are not fully covered by my insurance and my bills have come to the point where they are difficult to pay. Aranesp,... (more)

I am a veteran that served this country during the Bush/Cheney administration. I have been out of the Military for almost 3 years now, and adjusting quite well to the new and improved ways of running this country. I feel that it is part of our constitutional rights to have affordable health care, since even in the preamble we are given the right to life. Most Americans work very hard for minimal wages, while corporate executives reap the benefit of thier toil. If we want to recover from the economical downturn we need to invest in our... (more)

I am unemployed,52 years old,and I have emphysema and arthritis.I cannot afford ANY repeat ANY health care whatsoever without going to an emergency room,and being treated like a second class citizen at best,which is tantamount to NO CARE WHATSOEVER. I've worked all my life,yet due to Social Security regulations cannot collect Social Security because I'm not old enough yet. Apparently,they're hoping I'll DIE before reaching 62 or whatever the hell the age is now. I'd be better off in damn near any country than the United States,but guess what?... (more)

My mom went in for what was to be simple surgery and ended up on life support and almost lost her life to ARDS. She spent 95 days in the hospital, 30 of them in ICU, and had numerous complications. My dad stayed by her side the whole time. Once she was released my father's employer's health care was up for renewal and they were told if my mother was added the cost to the employer and the employees would be insanely high. My father was forced to find alternative health care coverage in order to spare his fellow employees. Now my mother is... (more)

i have no health care for over 3 years now. after i turned 18 i lost it from my mothers plan. it stinks because i have a knee problem, as well as problems with my back and gallblader. im only 21 and cant do anything to make me fell better.

We have an excellent health care plan for the most part. It's called personal choice from IBX in Phila. Everyone should have this period.

I am a nurse and work in a hospital. We continue to have cuts and layoffs, how are we expected to give quality healthcare with so little staff.Please help us. We want to take great care of our patients.

this is to big for any Amarican to bare.the land of the free is and the home of the brave. left to die becuse of the lack of money or insurance. so sad there is many storys i am shore any American from any class can share to promote the choice of beter heath care all the way around. the same thing stops it money. and who has it and who doasnt, my story sad to say will not be heard , my pain is real but like so may americans , that work hard and loose things everyday. there isnt enouph ears to hear it nore enouph eyes to see and with all our... (more)

I raised 5 sons in up-state New York without any medical coverage. With so many children I could not afford child care,so I worked as a waitress to make ends meet. There was no affordable health care without going on Welfare and I would NOT do that. Now my sons are grown, married and working. I see them trying to make outrageous rent/mortgage payments, car payments, car insurance (way to high),utility payments,high taxes on everything(How many times can the same dollar be taxed?) and then there is HEALTH INSURANCE. The least payment out of all... (more)

My husband recently lost his job. Although I have a job with benefits for myself the cost to add him and both our teenage boys to my plan would have been too much. We were able to add our sons the the PA CHIP program at a reduced cost but my husband remains without healthcare insurance; now 2 months. His COBRA payment through his previous employer was more than we could afford. He has researched many individual plans and has actually been denied coverage because he takes an antidepressant; which he needs for the anxiety of our situation! He... (more)

I am a small business owner. Health insurance is by far the largest and most difficult expense to meet. It greatly exceeds mortgage and rent expenses combined. Without change it is foreseeable that I not be able to provide it for my employee in the future. The options available in this area a quite limited. I am always amazed at what is not covered. Please help. I would gladly pay higher taxes to have this burden removed. I can not imagine that the tax increase would approach my annual expenses for insurance as well as the additional uncovered... (more)

MY HEALTH CARE JUST DOUBLED, I ASK MYSELF SHOULD I FEED MY CHILDREN, OR MAKE SURE THEY HAVE HEALTHCARE, TOUGH TIMES NOW THAT MY HUSBAND GOT LAID OFF

I have worked in health care for many years, 18 of them involved sending claims to insurance companies- way too many insurance companies, and they are wanting to make a profit, so they are NOT wanting to pay claims. I support a system such as Medicare for everyone. I also saw many hard working people with no health insurance, hoping and praying that they would stay healthy- not a good way to live, not in the United States. Why not have a national lottery to help defray some of the costs? Pennsylvania's lottery supports many wonderful programs... (more)

I am a member of a construction union where we pay 100% of our health care costs. Our current rate is $4.87 an hour for coverage. Since the slow down in the economy work has been slow and since I didn't get the required quarterly hours I got billed for continued health insurance coverage at that $4.87, the bill was for approx $518. I also know that I won't have enough hours to pay for my next quarter insurance and another bill will be arriving shortly. Something has to be done with the robbery our insurance ccompanies get away with. I... (more)

With the outrageous cost of living,interest rates and insurance companies who have become out and out liars and fraudulant we can not afford insurance.Even if you do come up with the huge premium every month when it comes time for the coverage everything is denied.Thats where the high priced lawyers come in with more corruption. Where does it end?When same sex marriage is being considered,all morality and transparency is removed from those that lead the nation.Our police force is completely corrupt.The "mafia"has moved inside the... (more)

I am not sure what exactly to write or how to even begin explaining my story. I like a lot of other American households fall into a range where I make too much for Medicaid or Chips. I am a single mother of 3 amazing young men. We did have insurance while their father was serving in the Military but even that system is flawed as we had to travel 3 hours to another state to get a simple check up for a cold or to coordinate with the primary care provider for all referrals. My oldest son Malachai has what is diagnosed as a Vein of Galen... (more)