I am in my early sixties. I have good, expensive health care because my husband makes a good salary. I am able to see doctors to prevent small health care issues from becoming big ones. A close friend of mine is single, unemployed, and also in her early sixties. She can only afford catastrophic care, and does not see doctors even for things like Xrays, but just suffers with pain until it goes away.

I live in Massachusetts, where healthcare is available to all. But my brother lives in South Carolina and, at the of 56, cannot get any insurance company to cover him... at any cost! He has spent years trying. This is unconscionable. It increases his stress and we would never breathe a word of this to our elderly mother, who would panic about it.

As ever, all we are hearing is talk, talk, talk. You are on track to make no difference at all. It costs 2.3 times more for health care per head of population than it costs in the two or three countries with the best universal health care systems, and all of them measure better than we do in most aspects of outcome and life expectancy. The US has a bad Third World level of infant mortality. Unless there is a root-and-branch re-ordering there will be no improvement and no reduced cost. No one whatsoever who has worked in or who has... (more)

I am 46 and have had breast cancer twice. The cost of my surgeries, chemo, radiation, and endocrine therapy is well over $200,000. I am very lucky--I have good health insurance. But I am also very worried because my husband and I are self employed and buy our own insurance. Every year the premiums go up by as much as 10 percent. We currently pay nearly as much for our health insurance as we pay for our mortgage. I worry all the time--what if our earnings go down and we can't afford to keep our current policy? If we were forced to change to a... (more)

I am a small business owner that is consistently staggered by the cost of health care for my employees. It goes up 20% a year, every year, without fail. I wish that it were so easy to grow my revenues by that much year over year. Let's stop ignoring the fact that health care is putting our country at a competitive disadvantage and tackle this problem. Thank you President Obama. Let's grab a beer next time you are in Boston.

My son who is 42 years old and lives in CA has suffered from psoriatic arthritis for the last 6 years, a debilitating disease, when some days he could not even get out of bed. No medicine brought any relief until last year when on the advice of his rheumatologist he started getting Humira shots - after a few weeks, he was feeling well enough that he was able to again play his favorite game: hockey! Because of budget cuts, he is losing his job as administrator of an after-school program as of the end of the schoo year. July 1st 2009. Since he... (more)

I have no stirring story. All I know is the fear of not being covered with insurance when you're unemployed. It's a dilemma whether to spend hundreds of dollars on health insurance each month when you're unemployed, or risk a potentially unpayably enormous bill. And I'm just one right now. I can't imagine being in that situation with a family - where both sides of the coin are more expensive.

I have had thyroid cancer since I was 24 years old. I am 55 now. If I didn't have health insurance through employment, I would be in a terrible situation. I have enormous empathy for people who have catastrophic health costs and no insurance. We must insure the uninsured now.

I friend once told me that he was going to expand in the UK! because his overall costs of doing business per employee was cheaper the biggest contributing factor being health care. If nothing is done soon there will not be many high paying jobs left here in the US.

My sister and brother-in-law were career military people who have Tri-Care for life, a government program. Yet they are conservative Americans and don't want others to have the same fine care. Let's get this done once and for all. In addition, I am from MA, and would love to see this done while our beloved and admired Ten Kennedy can be part of it. Sandra Butzel

When I had thyroid cancer in my 20's, I had to go on Medicaid to get the surgery paid for. I was lucky. Today, I have employer-sponsored health insurance. But my heart goes out to people who have no insurance and have expensive and devastating medical illnesses. We must insure the uninsured now!

There must be government provided option. Long term wise, private only system will fail.

In the non-profit where I work, professional staff cannot afford health care unless they carry a second job or can obtain it through a spouse. The poor families with which I work just don't have access to quality health care. Children's health problems interfere with school success.

I currently have health insurance benefits at my job, but they only pay 50% and we still pay as a family over $600 a month. As of July I'm being downsized because the economic situation to only half time, and my employer will only cover 25% for half time employees, which means that to get insurance for my family through my work we would still need to pay over $9,000 per year.

My family had to sell our house to pay a high medical bill when my brother had a terminal illness. He was uninsured. This was in 1959, and we were not poor. I can imagine what people are going through today. It is absolutely criminal that the USA can't find a way to do what every other advanced country does at a reasonable price.

I work for a small company and my premium is paid by them, however I am not sure this plan (Anthem California PPO) is so good. I got bitten by a tick on a Saturday and was unable to remove it on my own, so I went to the emergency room on a Sunday. I had to pay a $100 copay, and additionally was billed over $300 for the visit. All my insurance did was reduce the total bill, which would have been over $600 if I didn't have insurance. Most of my time in the hospital was spent filling out paperwork and waiting. I only saw a doctor for about... (more)

Health care insurance should NOT be dependent upon employment. We must purchase our insurance directly, not through a company plan, and currently we pay $1850 a month for a Blue Cross HMO Family plan. CRAZY!!!

We are fortunate that we have medicare and health care insurance through retirement. We live in Massachusetts. Our adult children have the option of low-cost insurance at times when between jobs, etc.

My health care is expensive because I am a Small Business person, and we actually pay the most and have the least time with our doctors....diagnosis is hard then and the clinics are needing to be balanced so that you can see a full time doctor. They do not have enough time to even read your case usually. So highest cost and the least time. The people in welfare have better care than the Small business owner and they are genererally on no time schedule as well.

Since I lost my job to a long depression 7 years ago, my wife and I have struggled to send our two kids through college. After depleting our savings, re-mortgaged our all-paid-for house, and asking my 93 year old father in Italy for a $40,000 loan, we thought things were under control. All the above was covering my younger son's senior year costs. But last April a bad bike accident knocked off his three front teeth and required - so far - two surgeries. Our insurance - one of the Country's best - will pay for these "medical"... (more)