I am lucky, I have health care through an employer - for now. My co-worker just lost his job and doesn't have health insurance. Cobra is too expenseive. We need change.

I am an Ohio retired teacher and we have been advised that in the near future we may not have health care. This is devastating!

I have been waiting 30 years for health care reform. I feel everybody should have a right to affordable health care, even the sick and the poor.

Both my parents died penniless due to the high cost of health care and the lack of insurance benefits. Each year my insurance costs continues to rise along with my deductible, and my wages continue to go down, due to my qualified jobs being sent to India (offshored). The assault on the middle-class continues as mindless stooges on Wallstreet and corrupt corporations only care about their "bottom lines", without considering how it effects our country overall. My family fought in all major wars and many died "face... (more)

My husband was laid off from his job last Oct. our health care premium is $700.00 dollars a month..my sister was diagnosed with overian cancer, but because she had no health care she was offered no treatment and was sent home to die..I'm mad and pissed off with this system..we need health care reform asap. Nina.

I'm self employed and uninsured and cannot afford even regular medical check-ups. This country's health care system isa disgrace.

I live on very low SSI and also am on Medicaid. I spent 5 days in the hospital due to high blood pressure as my legs had swollen and my breath was short. My hospitalization was the first time I had seen a doctor in perhaps 40 years. When I was released I bought the medicines that had been prescribed and they cost over $400 for the month. I immediately contacted Social Security and shortly was reviewed by the county social services and qualified for medicaid and a provider that covers the majority of my drug cost. Without these services my... (more)

In college, I was studying to be an actuary. I took an internship at a healthcare company called Anthem (now know as Anthem-Wellpoint). Losses and utilizers were discussed not as diseases and people but as metrics on a spreadsheet. In a meeting, I felt as if I was considered insane when I asked why we did not have any information pertaining to high utilizers' medical condition. Apparently, it didn't matter if a policy holder had cancer or black lung, a poor loss ratio is a black mark on the book and must be fixed...with a rate... (more)

I'm one of the lucky individuals who have health care through my employer. Unfortunately I am constantly approached by my neighbors who have lost their job and benefits. It's possible to get by with little money as long as you have your health. But if you get sick or hurt what do you do. My neighbors and friends are scared and I have nothing I can tell them. The Republican Ownership Society is a failure. People need help with the basics. Health care needs to be part of a basic safety net!

I'm a college student and after I was no longer covered under my parents' health care plan, my university's student insurance refused to cover any of the costs of my medication. Pre-existing conditions are not covered, even if that means the choice between financial hardship or illness. I had been taking that medication for many years and suddenly the cost of taking it changed from $20 to $300 per month. That may not sound like a lot of money, but to a full-time student, with a part-time job $300 was an impossible expense. I had to stop... (more)

A college graduate from a well-to-do family in the suburbs should not have to go without health insurance. However, a full-time job that pays only $23,000 a year and burdensome school loans doesn't leave much left in the bank account for paying for something that doesn't affect my credit score. I haven't been to a doctor in almost 2 years, not even for necessary yearly checkups. It's a good thing that when that car hit mine on the highway I was able to walk away.

I am young recently married and college graduate. And the one thing I worry about is if something happens and we wont be able to get the right care.We have enough bills as is and dont necessarly want to worry about "what if's"

My current employer tells me that if I quit my job, the equivalent health insurance will cost $11,500 per year through COBRA. And that's *group* insurance! Please, it's time for sensible health care in this country -- yes, just the way the rest of the western world does it.

Dear President Obama, Over the past year my dad battled lymphoma. I am happy to say that he is currently in remission and I am grateful to all the doctors, nurses, pharmacists and social workers that supported him. However, at that time when 100% of our family's attention should have been focused on getting him well again, I found myself heavily burdened wondering how we will pay for the hospital visits, treatments and his ongoing medication. I believe in the psychologist Abrham Maslow's "Hierarchy of Needs." When we take care of... (more)

Since Hillary Clinton worked on health care reform in the first term of her husband's presidency, I have hoped and worked for change in our health care system. To me, it is this simple - it is unAmerican to let any of our citizens try to cope with life without the support of a national health care system. In my work as an educator, I am surrounded by children who have no health care - they don't get the glasses, the dental work, the screenings, or any of their other health care needs or preventive care. This has to end.

My husband and I have always had very good health care coverage but we have a good friend whose husband had a serious disease and acquired Alzheimers in addition even though he was young and a college professor. Because he and his wife sought diagnostic services at Mayo Clinic for which his health insurance would not pay, at his death, his wife was left with thousands of dollars of bill that she spent 5 or 6 years paying off despite the fact that she had illness and accidents that effected her as well. We must do better for everyone.

As a small business owner, I struggle every year with cost of providing adequate & affordable healthcare to my 65 employees & their families. Premiums have escalated 20 to 30% per year, forcing reductions in coverage and huge added expenses for our company that we cannot pass along to our customers. This limits our ability to compensate our employees in other ways and to invest in the growth of our business. Because we are small, we have no real bargaining power with insurance or healthcare providers.

I am a physician(Cardiologist). I obviusly have much experience with health care. My story today is the cost of health care which really needs to be solved and will in the long run. The problem is that the solution will not be reached by the politically popular mechanisms such as EMR, prevention, pay for performance etc. It will only be reached by making the various segments of the health care industry mirror several of their European counterparts (physician reimbursemnts, self referrals by physcians and hospital profits). In the meantime if... (more)

For the last 5 years my husband and I (both self employed) have fortunately been healthy. We have also paid for health insurance but what we could afford covered really very little, including preventative care (ie mamograms, colonoscopy (and we do have family history of this disease) etc.) Anyhow b/c of this we are hesistant to seek medical care too quickly. However b/c last month we qualified for company insurance coverage (b/c of the amount of contract work spouse) I decided to see a doctor about a sore foot. I actually thought it was... (more)

My 94 year-old mother-in-law fell and broke her shoulder last year. Because the break was not operable, the hospital "rules" (dictatated in large part by insurance considerations) mandated that she be moved in 48 hours to a rehab facility for what turned out to be a long, drawn out rehab. Her children who are in their 60s and 70s themselves found out almost immediately that the entire stay in re-hab was not going to be covered by any insurance! It was all (4 months of it) on us to pay out of pocket for her care. The reason?... (more)