I am fortunate enough to have good insurance for affordable premiums as a retired government employee. Even with that, the year I had breast cancer, our family had $17,000 worth of unreimbursed health expenses. I can't imagine how difficult it would be for someone less fortunate than us.

My sister - in -law lost her insurance and now cannot get her medications. She has to stop taking medicine for bipolar disease, which is dangerous for her health and well being. Our brother has to have medicine for arthritis, which costs 11500.00 every six weeks. He just lost his job!

My family is currently without health care. I lost my job four weeks ago and can't afford to pay the high premiums. What choices do I have? The lowest cost choice is $650 a month and that's for a plan with a $10,000 deductible. I guess we are taking a gamble...it's like a betting game. We either try to scrape together $650 a month for something we might not even use if we manage to stay healthy, or we save the monthly premium, but are in serious trouble if anything goes wrong. What kind of options are those? Something needs to change here,... (more)

I am a nurse practitioner and often see people who have neglected to get necessary health care because they have no health insurance. Conditions only get worse over time. In a courtry such as the United States, every citizen should have health care coverage. Personally I have been paying almost $700.00 monthly for health insurance for my adult son.

My family and I are currently without health insurance. I'm a stay at home mom; my husband was just laid off, and we cannot afford the $650 per month for the major medical insurance with a $10,000 deductible that we previously had. Individual medical insurance with better coverage in Maine is prohibitively expensive. Let me add that it makes no sense to me that where you work determines the quality of your coverage. For example, my husband worked for a very small marketing firm that could not afford anything close to the HMO that was offered... (more)

I am a masters prepared nurse and have personally seen the effects of appalling lack of resources for people without health care benefits. It is our responsibility as the richest nation on earth to assure that all our fellow citizens have access to the health care they need.

I have no health care because I can not afford it and have to depend on emergency care. It's terrible.

I am a self-employed independent performing artist in my late 50's. For years I have struggled to find ways to find affordable health insurance. I live in Maine and in recent years have been eligible for subsidized insurance through a program called Dirigo Choice, an underfunded program now in danger disappearing. While the premium is affordable, the coverage is less than satisfactory. Dirigo was originally covered by Anthem/Blue Cross, who dropped the program because of high costs. Now Harvard Pilgram is the provider and only covers 80% of in... (more)

My daughter broke her foot while she was working for a HOSPITAL. She started as a temp and they hired her full time after the first 5 weeks. Into her 5 month she still did not have health insurance she was supposed to have through them. The week before they finally put her on their insurance plan she broke her foot badly. No insurance, big bills, and all because of this screwed up system in this country where even hospitals don't want to cough up the costs of insurance for their workers. What a country!

As a doctor, I see the for-profit so-called "system," with each insurance company having its own hurdles to jump over, interfering with patient care, and adding enormous administrative costs. Also,drugs are ridiculously expensive. Europe and Canada have a lot to teach us.

I am a one-person IT consulting company. I pay about $1,700/mo for health insurance for my family (me, wife, and daughter). It's grown from about $1,100/mo just a few years ago. It's hard to keep up with this trend ... especially in this economy.

I have worked for Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Corp. a division of United Technologies in North Berwick, ME for 23 years. As of 2006, UTC has taken away the company's contribution towards our retirement healthcare benefits. When I was hired they promised to pay 100% of our premiums if we retired after 30 years of service and most of the premium after 25 years. I originally planned to retire at 55 with 25 years of service and would have had no worries about my heathcare insurance. Now I can't retire before the age of 65 (when I qualify for... (more)

I an a Maine State Senator; I have received a very large number of "thank-yous" from my constituents for Maine's Dirigo Choice health insurance plan.

My daughter and her 2 children have no health care insurance. She works 2 jobs and makes around $30,000 a year. She can barely pay her bills let alone health care insurance.

I have two son's in their early twenties. One just graduated from college in December 2008. We have had to pay a Cobra payment for him which is over $400.00 a month. He has pre-existing medical problems that have made his options even more difficult for trying to buy a private insurance, which in the state of Maine is more expensive than Cobra. I have a another son who is in college but who will age out of our insurance soon and he too will need to go on Cobra. Both boys' Cobra insurance has a $750.00 deductible and then only pays 80% of... (more)

My son is in his late twenties and cannot afford good health care. His employer cannot afford to provide it. He has a college degree but is struggling to make a decent living like so many young people today. He recently had a bad bicycle riding accident which really could have left him crippled. He did not go to a hospital because he felt that he could not afford the care. Fortunately, he has recovered. Thank goodness for young bones.

I am a speech language pathologist working in an acute care hospital presently. I have worked in other health care environments over the past 30 years. I see patients unable to afford adequate health care, and many areas of wasted monies. We need reform!

Thoughts on Health care costs: Basic plan with a feasible set price for EVERYONE. At the end of the year, there would be credit towards the next year per not using insurance. The ammount of credit would depend on the range of visits. For example, No visits to 3 visits, 33% of the 1 year cost to apply to the next year's cost. 3 to 6 visits, 15% off, and so on. Traumas and emergency intensive care would not count against DR vivsit deductions. NON SMOKERS would automatically get 50% off the 1 year cost!!!!!! Smokers ALWAYS have more and... (more)

We need physicians to work together , as in Mayo Clinics, to provide better care at lower costs. Working together,reviewing cases etc. would lessen risk of poor care, and malpractice suits as well. I lived in Denmark for five years and felt the relief and dignity a social health system gave back to its citizens. It was a quantum jump:message was "we care about each other"..and I believe this helped inform all actions, social and political, of Danish citizens. Home Security is a Health System in place.

I will not contact my representative Chellie Pingree. Organizing for America are acting just like union thugs. This is not how we want our President to act. We need Congress to: pay off the national debt. put the dollar back on the gold standard. stop printing dollars and deficit spending. we want less government and less taxes. I want Congress, also, to audit The Fed and then end The Fed. They are not keeping our dollar strong, just the opposite and they need to be held accountable for printing and diluting dollars and manipulating... (more)