My wifes cost of health care increases every year to a ridiculous amount and about 1/3 of my paycheck goes to it. We are both healthy young adults and I feel the current costs, that only rise are going to definately hurt our financial future. Please help stop the health care pig and start putting money back in our pockets.

My brother and his wife have health insurance. But they're self-employed and pay, together,about $500 a month which is all they can afford. What is their deductible? $12,000! So do they really use their "health care plan"? NO! Because if they go to the doctor, they have to pay for everything--until they reach 12 grand! In case of a catastrophic illness, they would, maybe, get something. SO, they're a part of the population that have "health insurance" but it isn't worth much.

I am lucky and have Medicare and Medicaid but my niece, a single mother of two, works a full time job and still can't afford health care for herself or her children. Shame, Shame on you Congress for allowing this problem for Americans all over the country. Donna Kile

I'm a 90 year old retired professor with congestive heart failure and take 10 prescription medications each day. Without the health insurance provided me by my university employment, I would not be alive today.

For most of our 40 married years together, we had the same insurance which was provided by my husband's employer. After he reached 65 years this May, I was cut off and now am paying cobra of $840 a MONTH----EVERY month!!. How many people can afford that? It's just pathetic. This isn't for a family of four, it's for one 61 year old retired woman. All of congress needs to sit down with a significant other, a spouse, or child, and just try to find affordable coverage by making a million phone calls, or by reading what's available on as many... (more)

I am single, self-employed woman and purchase high-deductible health insurance. This year my monthly premiums increased 40 percent (despite making no claims last year), to 10 percent of my monthly income.

I am the general manager of a department of approximately 300 full-time staff, all of whom are offered health insurance. I am please that our company offers health care for all its full-time workers, but this is a heavy burden for us, in cost and in HR and management time. It also leads to some complexity in the workplace. I don't think it makes sense for employers to be involved in health insurance. It inappropriately involves us in the personal lives of our employees, sometimes in ways the employee finds embarrassing. We are not... (more)

I am fortunate enough to be in college and still have my dad's insurance, but I worked on a campaign this past semester and I learned a lot about health care plans and I talked to a lot of people in North Carolina who do not have sufficient plans, if any at all. I feel for them and others like them, but I also have concern for myself when I finish school. With costs the way they are affording procedures have become impossible for people on a fixed income. It has to change. People shouldn't have to live in fear of not being able to afford... (more)

My mother-in-law has M.D. and has consistently, throughout her life, been denied proper treatment, both medically and as a human being, by health insurance companies. Constantly, they deny her and deny her for being a risk and this is unacceptable in an age when we have the ability to help one another. The fact that those of us lucky enough to not have a disability get treated without dignity by these providers is one thing. It's another to deny those who desperately need it throughout their lives.

Please, please, please do not tax health care insurance. As self-employed individuals we already spend an astronomical amount on health insurance annually. Nearly $14,000 for our family of four. You will break our backs if you do and give a further victory to the health insurance industry. Additionally, it is not health care reform that we are talking about here, it is HEALTH INSURANCE reform. We should all have access to the same health insurance our political representatives and government workers enjoy. We, the tax payer, pay for it. ... (more)

At this moment, I can receive treatment for my Leukemia for 1/3 the U.S. cost. I can catch a flight to Ireland, India or Costa Rica among others, stay in the best hotels, be treated by doctors trained in the U.S...cover all my travel and medical expenses. What would cost $100,000 here I will come back with almost $60,000 left out of my $100,000. Treatment in the U.S. would probably have me filing for bankruptcy after one week of chemo thearpy. Japanese auto makers put GM out of business...is foreign medical service about to put HMO's in the... (more)

52 &1/2 years ago I was born 2 months premature. My father paid for it out of pocket. He raised myself and two siblings with NO health care. I to have raised a family of two children with out paying one dime to the crazy hmo/ health care in this country. I am for Gov. health care. My father passed away in Florida in April 2009 at the age of 88. Don't get sick in that state. Thank you, Nathan

My husband works for a small business, and health insurance they provide was costing us over $700 a month for both of us. Now we have 2 children, and I am thankfully using student insurance for myself to keep costs down. When I finish my Master's degree in December, I'll have to go back on my husband's plan, and I'm afraid we won't be able to afford it.

My name is Mary and I am a 57-year-old grandmother of 10 and mother of 2. I lost my job in December and will run out of the reduced COBRA payments in November and no more coverage this time next year. It will cost over $800 per month for my husband to add me to his retirement health insurance plan. I hope there will be a national plan in place by this time next year as I have had some medical issues lately. There are no jobs available because of the economy and prospects in the near future are slim at best. Also, my current coverage still... (more)

I am tired of seein premiums go up up and up and the quality of care and coverage erode. Its time we have reform that is going to help the american people and not insurance companies, hospitals, and the few at the top. Please help.

My mother was diagnosed with epilepsy and a brain tumor at a young age. She has always needed medication and constant monitoring including MRI scans to watch the progress of her condition. The current system operated well for her at first. She was able to use her husband's, my father's health plan provided by his law firm and later his in-house employer. In America, we have the best health care in the world... for the powerful and the well-connected. Companies and firms can use their large size and bargaining power to make the system... (more)

I have family and friends who do not have the freedom of choice to see the health care providers of their choice. I also have friends and family who are doctors and nurses and feel that they are unable to treat their patients properly due to insurance restrictions and beauracratic red tape. My elderly mother goes to a local health clinic that is so busy that often they cannot see her and so they ask her to drive 30 miles to a convenient care center. She is unable to drive out of town and so if I am at work, she goes without the doctor... (more)

At 55 my husband is disabled and his future health care threatens to ruin us financially even though we have good health insurance now. He cannot get nursing home insurance and I don't know how we will pay for that if needed without me having nothing left to live on. Right now I'm thinking the best course of action is to divorce him if his needs become greater than our means so our daughter and I have enough to get by on and he gets the care he needs. Truly sad.

Compared to millions of others in the United States, I feel like my story is

My parents and I personally do not have health insurance, to recieve the best health care. The only time we can really see a doctor is when we have to make an emergency visit to a hospital. It would be nice to have affordable health insurance, so we wouldn't have to rely on the emergeny room for health care. I'm all for the health care reform, it would really be helpful for all of America, especially with the tough times we are going through. Good Luck President Obama!!!!!!