Public health is like public education. Everyone is served when all are healthy and everyone is served when all are educated. All should have health care as a human right just as all have education as a human right. Just as in the case of education I am willing to have health care limited to the kind and amount which tax payers are willing to pay for.

I have M.S. and it's been a struggle lately..even with health insurance to get the services I need. Everything has to be grieved. Also, my children have no health insurance and have neglected dental and medical issues. Please change the health care system asap.

Very shortly, the dramatic changes taking place in the auto industry will undoubtedly cause me to be laid off and as a consequence, unemployed and uninsured. If affordable health care is not made available, I won't have any. That above all else is of great concern to me.

Hi, I'm writing about my son who has epilepsy. He has a VNS implant which must be checked periodically and he takes very expensive drugs. He wants to be a productive member of society. He plans to go to college and then get a job. The problem I worry about is will he have trouble getting a job, not just because he has epilepsy, but also because his medical care will be expensive. He and I will be more worried about getting affordable health care than about finding a fufilling job with good pay. Thank you for asking! Stella Jay

Two years ago, in the middle of my law school career, I became extremely ill. I had insurance through my father's employer until my recently past 25th birthday, and I thought I could make it through the couple years of law school without. (My family is strictly middle class, and I had put myself through college by working, and student loans covered my living expenses during law school, but independent insurance coverage was too high for me to afford on my modest budget.) Because I didn't have insurance, I avoided going to the hospital,... (more)

Please support HR 676,a single payer health care system like Medicare is the only real solution to our country's health care debacle.

I currently have health care, but I can't keep up with the changes they make to my policy every year and never know what something will cost me when I need care. On top of that, I have no idea whether I will continue to have coverage once my employer (GM) gets done with their flirting with bankruptcy. As a retiree, I worry about my pension and my health care coverage. Providing quality coverage for everyone would help reduce my stress and lower costs all the way around. Please do something positive with our health care system.

The high cost of health care is making a larger divide between the have and the have nots in this nation. Many people work full time without health care coverage for themselves and their children. One illness can be devestating financially or force a family into bankrupcy. In public education (where I work) the cost of maintaining health care coverage for workers is rising much faster than the the resources to educate children. Therefore the rising cost of health care is eating into the service provided to educate children each year. ... (more)

I am a social worker and a nurse and I've been working with people with HIV for 15 years. I see first hand the disparities and the waste, and want to reduce the costs associated with wasted time and focus on good patient care. I want to help!

A friend who works as an office manager with little insurance coverage was almost denied lifesaving surgery b/c the hospital didn't carefully review the tests. After the surgery, she was released prematurely and came close to death because of the postsurgical complications. She has received a bill for $70,000, well over twice her annual wages.

When I was 17 I learned to suture myself. We were a big working class family from Kansas. My father ran a small roofing company, and it was a struggle to keep the utilities on and the car running. We didn't have health care. We didn't go to a dentist. We didn't even go to the doctor unless someone was dying. I cut my chest wide open one weekend. My whole family was visiting relatives, and rather than have them return to a hospital bill that I knew we couldn't afford, I got a couple of friends to help me sew myself shut. The gash... (more)

I personally have a chronic pain syndrome due to a to chronic degenerative arthritis which entraps the sciatic nerve, Now when I think of all the people in the world suffering with life threatening illnesses I think mine is silly. It does affect quality of life and sleeping is not possible without medication. So far all of the HMO recommended treatments have been tried to no avail. Wah,wah,wah! Most seriously I had a friend who at the age of 49 was having severe, debilitating upper shoulder and back pain and GERD symptoms and because he... (more)

I was unemployed for 18 months and was unable to get health care from the State of Michigan. I went without diabetic medication and high blood pressure medication from June 2007 - November 2007, until I found Covenant Health Care which serves low income and no income persons. That is what saved my life. It could have been devasting to me and a tremendous loss to my family.

Dear Mr. President, As an elderly retired person, I am for health care reform even though up to now I have excellent coverage on a group plan from the university where I taught. I am very much aware that without that plan I would be in dire straits with either crushing debt from medical treatment or would have to forgo treatment. I am one of the fortunate, but the kind of care I enjoy should be available to everyone in a country which values its citizens and human life itself. Sincerely, Robert E. Hill

My mother died from heart disease four years ago this June . She was uninsured , due to the cost of insurance. She was unable to see doctors and was unaware of the gravity of her health issues until she had a heart attack and was deluged with congestive heart failure syptoms. She had a heart attack on May 6 2005 , struggled in and out of intensive care and died on June 8, 2005. I believe if she had access to health care , my mother would still be here today . Not to mention the hospitals that treat patients without insurance or the elderly -... (more)

I am currently without health care and have been for the past two years. Meanwhile I have suffered a broken wrist from falling and have not been able to get medical attention.

I have good health care: I am incredibly fortunate and I know it. With so many people laid off from their jobs, we need a national health care program that includes everyone. People with health care can afford to take a chance and start their own business. That will create jobs and make this country's ecomony stronger and bring in more tax revenues. Most jobs are created by small businesses, not giants like the auto companies. Universal health care is good for all of us and is good for the economy.

I am a single parent of four daughters. I was fortunate enough to have family health care through my employer for my three oldest daughters. Unfortunately, my youngest daughter who is 15 has not had health care for the past 6 years. I am now a statistc. I'm told I make too much money (how can $33,000 be too much?)for state health care; yet I am very poor in every other bracket when it comes to being a consumer. When your salary is only $33,000 - you can't afford to buy healthcare; but the state won't help because you make too much - it... (more)

I am not eligible for Health care. When i get sick i have to wait it out. I hurt my back about a year ago. I pulled a muscle. The pain was so intense that i had to go to the hospital. I spent less than two hours in the hospital and saw the doctor for about thirty seconds. All he did was touch my back and write a prescription. My bill was over $700. I keep hearing how government running government would be bad, but it seems like every other industrial country manages fine. Obama doesn't want to disrupt health care, but isn't that... (more)

Both my daughter and I have chronic medical issues. Because I was her sole support, I stayed with a job that kept me at working poverty because they carried good health insurance which covered our medical needs. When my health further declined, causing considerable sick time, I lost my job and consequently my insurance. Now on Social Security Disability, I am without insurance other than the county health plan. It doesn't cover the majority of my medications which I have stopped taking because I cannot afford them. It doesn't cover most... (more)