My family is currently without health care. Both my husband and I have our own businesses. Our income dropped by about 40% last fall and has not yet recovered. We were unable to pay our insurance company for several months and lost coverage. We have spent the last several months trying to shore up our finances by selling a small rental property (which has presented it's own challenges), cutting costs wherever we can and looking for ways to increase our income. We are making headway-but there have been many hurdles to over come and it is... (more)

I worked at an unregistered, unregulated restoration facility in nyc for many years just to be able to afford health insurance.I also stayed there so I could pay for over 8,000 dollars in dental work(not cosmetic). The health hazards of the job finally started to outweigh the benefits of having healthcare, so I'm now 37 years old without healthcare, and I'm scared to death to not have it. I'm trying to start my own business, but in the meantime, can't afford to pay for it. Ironically, working overtime at the restoration studio ( to pay for... (more)

I am a personal injury attorney in New York State. Obviously my clients all are in need of medical care. Purportedly, our state's no-fault law is intended to allow a person injured in an auto accident to be able to get medical treatment for accident related injuries without there first being a determination of fault. The law set out prescribed rates of reimburseemnt to medical providers equal to what such providers get when treating a Worker's Compensation related injury. However, due to the present cost of health care many of the... (more)

I am a practicing physician. Along with majority of my colleagues I support your health care reform which should be implemented this year. We cannot afford atatesquo.

I am a single woman who for the past 12 years has had my own business. In the first years of my company, I had to give up my cobra coverage from my previous job, and went without health insurance for many years. During that time I went into a great deal of debt dealing with some health issues I had. In Oct of 2009, I will finally pay off a 5 year loan to get rid of that debt. Now, my health care costs prohibit me from buying my own home, which I very much want to do. I'm 46 years old, and never owned my own home. Because of the cost of... (more)

As an unemployed teacher who is collecting unemployment and I currently have no health care. I make too much money on unemployment to qualify for medicaid, and any other alternative (COBRA, etc.) is not affordable. I do often worry about what might happen should some medical emergency arise. I have student loans and other debt and to add a massive medical bill on top of that would severely hurt me financially. With the current high rate of unemployment in this country something does need to be done about healthcare, because I know I'm not... (more)

I am a Pharmacist.Pharmacy Manager at a Hospital in the Hudson Valley New York. I am involved in all aspects of patient care,ordering pharmaceuticals and insurance reimbursement. I am appalled at the system as it now stands. We need to fix it.

The Healthy NY policy is the only one I can afford, but so many treatments I need are not covered, such as: mental health (and related prescriptions), physical therapy, etc. An expensive medicine I need for psoriatic arthritis would put me over my Rx coverage cap in two months, and there's no way I can pay for it myself. Two months of medication won't help my condition, so I'm up the creek.

Earlier this year, I was diagnosied as HIV+ and my partner with full blown AIDS. Due to the fact that I am attempting to go back to school to train for a new career at the age of 40; I am without health-care, and becuase my partner can not cover me, I am going out with basic health, dental, vision coverage. And though the job my partner has is not sufficent to support us during this time, he can not offerd to leave his job because we don't know if he would be able to obtain health insurance in a new job. We, the people of America... (more)

I joined an HMO because I thought it would be less expensive. From the very beginning, the HMO, Oxford, made mistakes relating to my membership and I was told they would not pay for the doctors that I had seen. I was diagosed with lymphoma and needed radiation. All of my time was spent writing letters because they continued to tell me they would not pay for my treatment or the doctors I visited. When my printer broke down, I had to run to the library to print out my letters. Radiation is tiring but dealing with healthcare was killing me. I... (more)

After my first wife and I separated in 2000, we stayed married for another five years because I just couldn't see myself leaving her without health insurance. I felt like the cold-war-era Muscovites who'd get divorced and still be living in the same apartment together ten years later, because they couldn't afford to move.

Hi, I became disabled about 3 years ago. After my companies health insurance ran out. I could not find any health insurance that I could afford. Because I get ssd and 350 dollars of disability, I do not qualify for medicaid. I could not go to the doctor and mental health. Now I have to choose to be able to pay for the doctor and possibly loose my disability which is based on mental health. I did find out recently that I will be eligible for medicare in sept and it is a God send. I will now be able to get mental health and go to the doctor... (more)

I'm retired. I'd love to be able to do more for my kids, who have families of their own and from time to time need my help. I'd love to be able to give more to charity. But I'm held back in both by the knowledge that -- as things stand now -- serious illness could make beggars of my wife and me. Carol and I are on Medicare, but we know plenty of people younger than we who have no health insurance at all! For the sake of our country, for the sake of heaven, we have to fix health care NOW. Paul R. Cooper

-My nephew cannot get the drugs he needs because Medicaid won't pay for the less expensive drug!!!! -My friend's health care plan won't pay for generic sprays for her severe allergies. Working for the U.S. Census she has had to miss work and she's not one to do so. -I can barely afford Medicare and Part D! I take good care of myself and eat well yet at 68 I may fall into the badly named "donut hole". Meanwhile the VA gets drugs for far less because they are allowed to negotiate! -If our elected officials cannot see how preventive... (more)

As a daughter of a (now retired) professional fire fighter, I was always covered under my father's health insurance. Once I reached 25 years of age, I was forced to face the harsh reality of a life with no coverage. Cancelled were my yearly visits to the physician and dentist for check-ups. I simply couldn't afford it. I am now 27 and was recently given the choice to pay $900.plus dollars for a root canal or have one of my teeth removed! I never dreamed it would come to this. Real health care reform should include dental care.

This morning, I heard one of the newscasters say: "Most American's do not want the federal government to take over the health care industry." I was getting my two youngest kids off to school and getting ready for work, so I don't know what facts or opinion he was quoting, but I was sure angry that he attempted to speak for me. I'm American and I indeed, think it is very important for the US government to do something about this mess the health care industry is in and that I have to suffer for. I wanted you to know what... (more)

At 21 years old my kidneys failed and I had to start dialysis due to a very rare genetic disorder called primary hyperoxaluria. The disorder prevented a my liver from creating an enzyme which would break down oxalate, a common component of kidney stones. My kidneys became so damaged due to the formation of oxalate crystals that they wouldn't function any more I was on dialysis 3 hours a day 5 days a week for three and half years before receiving a combined kidney and liver transplant. I haven't been on dialysis since that point but did receive... (more)

I share your three core principles, but ask that you not use Medicare as a "script" for a solution. The folks that I know, on Medicare, including myself, face a confusing number of options, paperwork that is mindboggling, sales pitches that sometimes seem to be less than honest and a number of other issues that come down to "too many hands in the bucket." If you can't figure "it" out, you can't make good choices - and you can't get to the alleged "carrot" (this appears to be an invisible carrot) of... (more)

I know so many people who cannot afford health insurance or basic health care. They drink expensive purified water, they are vegetarians, they are doing every thing they can think of to stay healthy, but they absolutely cannot afford to see a doctor or health care practitionner. Others are trapped with jobs that are terrible simply because of the health insurance available to them through their work. They are also suffering. Lives are being tragically wasted because of our country's shockingly poor health care non-system.

i can't work due to my mother's declining illness of brain tumors and etc., which puts a majior struggel on my husband. i hurt my foot the other day and he tried to put me on his medical insurance and because of Federal law he can't until November. Also, there is no help for families taking care of there sick family members to make up for what they are losing which we already lost our home, have a daughter in college and one going, well, hopefully, next year. Thank you Mr. President for your hard work, SINCERELY