I am diagnosed with a tumor in my head growing atop my pituitary gland. When discovered, I was not living with parents, not insured and due to the headaches and other side-effects, unemployed. As a result of that I wracked up about $8,000 in just doctor bills. I was uninsured and considered "self-pay". So, every MRI brain scan was $1500, blood tests were $700, Endocrinologists, Opthamologists, Neurologists and even my General Practitioner required cash upfront. I was not able to do it anymore. I never went to the hospital and never... (more)

I have no personal story. Rather, my story is the story of what I see around me--people without insurance glutting emergency rooms as their only means of health care, a temporary fix with no monitored followup and certainly no "wellness" programs; people staying in dead-end jobs simply because those jobs provide a modicum of health care; health insurance companies refusing to finance expensive, but needed, treatments, and denying applicants insurance because of preexisting conditions; doctors awash in paperwork to the extent that... (more)

I'm a veteran with Hepatitis C. I've been turned down for coverage and benefits by the VA because they say I can't prove with absolute certainty that I contracted it in the service. I have no health coverage of my own, but am presently covered under my wife's policy through her work. If she were to lose her job, I would have no health coverage at all. Just try getting a job if you have hepatitis C on your record. All corporate employers turn you down immediately because the health insurance companies consider you a high risk. Welcome to... (more)

I have not had insurance in 10 years. The system is broken. I hope that myself and my American brothers and sisters can come together and take care of each other again! Let's be a nation that cares about all of us again!

I am a 61 retired teacher with a cobra health insurance plan that will run out before I reach age 63. With several medical conditions that will keep me from any other insurance coverage, what am I to do until I reach 65 & Medicare age?

As a parent of two youg children, we have a family of four. I have seen the quality of helathcare at our children's pediatric office decline as they continue to bring on more young doctors in order to keep up with costs. We changed peditricans last month after 5 years with the same group becasue of a mistake the doctor made when I took our children in for strep throat. The qulaity of care is declining and the costs are rising.Wit insuracne I paid $167.00 for the dr visit and over $135.00 for 2 prescribtions. The stress my sister in... (more)

My health insurance costs for myself, my wife, and 2 year old daughter increased 20% this year. And I've had health insurance a total of 3 out of the last 16 years.

My best friend dad just died of throat cancer..He didnt have health insurance, was sick loosing weight, could barely talk. He went to Shands Jacksonville, they turned him away told him to apply for some card that took 45 days for him 2 recieve.. He got it only to find out that he had throat cancer and died 2 weeks later. He was sick for 6-7 months before he was diagnosed.

I am a retired employee and a business owner. From both sides insurance costs grow more than anything else. There is great waste with too much cost going to administration rather than medical care.

I've been walking around with a hernia for almost two years because I am not insured and cannot afford the cost of care to fix it.

Four years ago I had worked for a fortune 100 company for 26yrs. I had a gastric bypass. As a result I spent a year away from my home with relatives because I lost my memory. The Drs. to this day do not agree on what happened to me some say it was an allergic reaction some say it was comeing off of an antidepressant. I lost my job and home but they got paid for what they did to me.

Our health supplement just went up, AGAIN. With a failed economy, and substantial financial loss of my retirement kitty,this is getting to be to much to bear. Yet, the Democratic Party does nothing to hold the Bushwacker administration accountable. Our society, as a whole has become complacent and its leaders wimpy!

I lost my own dear mother to liver cancer. I truly believe that if more choices had been available to us my mother would still be alive today.She could not afford the supplemental insurance it cost to much she was on a fix income and we her family were struggling just to keep on top of thing ourselves.

My wife and I both have "pre-existing conditions. Me - Heart, she - cancer. We are uninsurable. We desperately need a single payer system. My wife retires in one year and we will be without any insurance under the current system. We are lucky, we'll be covered for another year. What about the 47 million without health care or hope? Please help.

I am a cancer survivor of Hodgkins Lymphoma. I am thankful I have insurance but my fear is if I ever left my job I would be in the family of uninsured americans because I have discovered you cannot get a personal policy if there are pre-existing illnesses. Please take away that clause so all persons will be able to have healthcare without the clauses that could be a life and death situation. I was diagnosed in December 1991 and again in August 2006. Quality and affordable healthcare for all Americans is at the top of my list President... (more)

My partner went to the doctor the other day for a routine stomach virus. The total of the bill, plus the time off of work, has wreaked financial havoc on our bills. Please, a routine health exam should not be something that has this many repercussions. Thank you so much!

My Mother, Carlolen has just been diagnosed with lung cancer with a metastasis in the brain. She is covered under Medicare for 80%, but relies on a typical insurance company for the other 20%. This company has refused her treatment at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Hospital of her choice and is forcing her to go to a local hospital that doesn't have the Cyberknife treatment her original doctor says she needs.

I have kidney failure and had to stop working because of it. I can see the difference in the health care now that I am on Medicare verses private health insurance.

I have a friend that had worked since she was fifteen and losed her job and now is disability. With riseing cost she has hard times in getting the bear thing to live with and of course health care is one. If you keep your health care going, them she may need to let eye and dental care go. How can you win... How can other countries have health and the USA have one of the highest rates going and do mention COBRA, that is out of the question if you get laid off your job. Wall Street, Bush and Chaney walk away with all the TAX payers... (more)

my daughter-inlaw is a wonderful young lady she has four kids my grand that i love my son her husband is a full time employee (thank God)they can"t afford insurance for their-self there on share of cost and that is a joke how can someone with one income pay the cost thy both has a seperate share of costs she has a rare blood type she suffer depression due to the rare blood she gets a injection every six months but she cant afford to get care for the other problems this illness take on her body and mind not only that once she get a docter... (more)