I lost my job several months ago. I have no health insurance, and if I were going to get sick I would not go to a health care center because I know I cannot afford any kind of health care. It could become a question of life or death for people like me. I am not alone, there are millions of people in my situation. We need an option to be able to feel safe in case something goes bad with our health. It is one very basic human right

I'm one of the lucky ones. I have good affordable health care provided by my company. However I shouldn't have to be lucky to have this. Quality affordable health care should be a right of every person. We have the best doctors and hospitals in the world, but when the average person can't afford to utilize them, the system is BROKEN and needs to be fixed. This is not just an economic issue, this is a moral issue. The bottom line of health care should be the heath of our populace, not how much profit can be achieved. I believe this is... (more)

I have been self employed since 2002. I am healthy and have never filed a claim with my insurer. Yet my health care premiums have doubled since 2002. I am in favor of a single payer plan or a government alternative plan to private insurance.

We all know powerful corporate interests oppose single-payer health care, but we the people will keep arguing for it. Why? It's sensible, it's moral, it's civilized, and every other top-tier industrialized nation has it. And not having nationalized health care is killing small businesses, the life blood of the economy. I don't expect to see this change in my lifetime. America is over. We're broke. This is the end of an empire and an era.

My husband is laid off and I am carrying benefits through my job. However, I will soon be laid off as well and our only option is COBRA which is prohibitively expensive. I WANT SINGLE PAYER HEALTH CARE. I'm so tired of having whether I get care or not to be tied to the whims of my employers!

As a self-employed professional, I have to pay for my own heath care insurance. The cost of my plan increases every year, even though I am a healthy non-smoker and seldom need to see a doctor. Meanwhile, my dental and vision care expenses are not covered at all. It is clear to see how this can be a crippling burden, or completely unaffordable, for many working families that do not benefit from employer coverage. Moreover, many employers are finding the costs of health benefits too high too sustain, and are trimming back coverage or denying it... (more)

I grew up in an impoverished area. During various parts of my life, various family members were left jobless and without health insurance. During these times, I saw my sister endure scathing, debilitating migraines because she could not afford the $100+/pill cost for her medicine. My mom, who suffers from high blood pressure, would go for days in a stupor because her blood pressure was well above normal - but we had no money to buy her medication. THIS HAS TO STOP. NO HUMAN BEING SHOULD EVER HAVE TO CHOOSE BETWEEN HIS/HER HEALTH AND... (more)

I have health care which I am satisfied with, mainly because it is provided by a non profit organization (Kaiser Permanente). I do not feel companies should be making a huge profit on something so basic such as health care.

I am helping in the care of my elderly parents. My Father is 84, feeble both physicaly and mentaly. My mother, who just turned 80, is in very poor physical health but still sharp mentally. She is the primary care giver to my father. My father went to the hospital for a simple hernia operation. After the surgery, he came home. He should have remained at the hospital and not released until he fully recovored. He ended up back at the hospital and is now fighting off an infection, pneumonia and a heart condition. He has been bounced... (more)

Both my health insurance premiums and dental bills are extremely high. Health care costs should include both medical and dental. Teeth and gum problems will cause other health issues as it affects the rest of our organ systems. My husband and I are on fixed incomes as seniors.

In California we passed the health care for children law. However, if the parents are not well who will take care of the children? We need health care for all. Our taxes pay for essentials like police dept, fire dept, and library. Health care is essential. We should all have equal quality health care - regardless of where we work and we should not loose our health care between jobs. Sincerely and Respectfully, Glenn Robinson

I had my son almost four years ago, during one of my check up I was told that I had some spotting of the cervix which "might" be cancer! At this time I was on state medicaid, which three months after you have had your child it goes away!! I had made an apt. with the Huntsman Cancer Center here, but unfortunately it was after the three month mark, so I am still living with not knowing if what I have is cancer or not. I am a single mom that works two jobs and goes to school part-time; which one of my two jobs is a server in Utah which... (more)

I am a healthy 24 year old woman, and this year I spent over $800 on one healthy woman exam at my OBGYN. You might think from that one statement I do not have health insurance, but I do. I am sick and tired of paying $150 a month so I can shell out even more cash when I choose to make healthy decisions and get myself checked out every year. I work as a wildlife technician, which is seasonal and temporary work. If I didn't inherit money from a deceased loved one, I would not be able to afford to provide myself with any health care at all. What... (more)

I am lucky to still have most of my health care cost covered by my employer. I am a teacher and I know that won't last that long with the cost of insurance rising so much every year. I always found it outrageous that my mother worked for an insurance company and they kept her as an independent contract employee for 15 years because they didn't want to consider her (or her whole team) employees. That way the company didn't have to give them health insurance. An insurance company doesn't even want to pay to insure their employees. My... (more)

In August, 2008, I sprained my foot on a friend's front walkway, and the pain was so bad that I fainted for a few seconds. My friend was worried and called 911 when I fainted, so an ambulance came and transported me to a hospital that was only a mile away from the site of the accident. I spent about 2 hours in Emergency, where they X-rayed my foot, determined there were no broken bones, wrapped it in an ace bandage and sent me on my way with a pair of crutches and instructions to elevate and ice the foot. When the bills came in, they were for... (more)

As a disabled person with Medicare, I am FORCED to carry outrageous, exorbitant "supplemental" insurance -- AND, on top of that, extortionist drug insurance . . . for which I fall into a "donut hole" (meaning I continue to pay monthly insurance premiums, but the insurance company no longer pays for my drugs) around September or October. I don't come out of this "hole" until January, at which time I (of course) must meet a hefty deductible before drug coverage kicks in again. (Can you spell "U-S-U-R-Y"?)... (more)

For the last decade, my employer has played health care musical chairs every year. Every year, the premiums go up and the coverage goes down. In an attempt to combat this, we've hopped from insurer to insurer, disrupting people's health care relationships and confusing everyone. Despite having first hand experience with the problem of ever inflating health care costs, I recently saw a correspondence from my employer describing their PAC which opposes much of the proposed health care reforms. My company is in the medical device industry,... (more)

I received medical and dental care through the state of California until I was 18 years old. When I turned 18 I was on my own. I am now 26 and have been on my own as far as medical and dental care go until 2008 when I began teaching first grade. I had just graduated and was grateful to finally have health care. When I finally got around to going to the dentist for the first time since high school (eep) the dentist told me that if I had waited much longer to come in that my bottom front teeth would have started to loosen and fall out due to... (more)

Unemployed, although a professional with lots of years paying into the "system", I cannot now address heart health issues with a medical advisor, as have no insurance. Very scary.

The health care system isn't just hurting people who have chronic medical problems or serious illnesses. I am a graduate student at Stanford University and have the university insurance for students, which costs $2400 a year. Last summer, while playing softball, I collided with another player and opened up a cut on my chin. 7 stitches at the university health center cost $900 and was billed under surgical! When I fell on a rock skiing this winter, I decided a wider scar on my arm was better than going into debt. This issue affects... (more)