I live in the small town of Corn, Ok. (pop.600) I live on a small income while taking care of a lady with disabilities.My insurance has a deductible of 2,500, with co-pays and paying for labs myself. I cannot afford to go to the doctor even with my insurance. I missed all preventative care this last year because of the costs involved. I believe in you Mr. President and worked many hours (868 phone calls) to help get you elected. I know that change is coming. Thank you for all you do and have done.

Have had to file bankruptcy because of high medical bills

Health care is prohibitively expensive for the middle class and lower class families. Those of us who are in education cannot afford to insure our children/spouse even though the state provides basic coverage for the employee. Without a doubt, I know we are paying for the uninsured who go to the emergency rooms, and for the precriptions that they cannot afford to buy. We all need relief! Whether or not we are paying directly for health insurance, we ARE paying for health care for everyone.

Mr. Obama, I am a substance abuse counselor for the Cheyenne-Arapaho Tribes, and would like for you to place a little more focus on education about substance abuse for our younger generation, because I see on a daily basis what happens when a blind eye is turned toward edfucating our public at home, and focus is placed on problems abroad.

A friend recently died. A contibuting factor was that she was not seeing her doctor regularly to treat her diabetes. She had Medicare but still could not afford office visits.

My health care story has been affected by all the factors that our pesident is working towards improving. Were it not for the compasion of doctors I have visited my story my may have ended differently. I have surgans wave fees so that I may have get a knee surgery when I was a teenager and my parents still stuggled to cover all the cost. As I have gotten older and supported myself I found that the clinic that I still work at couldn't afford to cover premiums for me which the cost were in the $1000-1500 range. When I looked for individual... (more)

My husband & I are both unemployed currently. I've been a stay at home mom for 5 years. He was just laid off last week from his maintenance job at a steel casting company 2 weeks ago. But even before his layoff, we could not afford healthcare. The cost for family coverage from his employer was $387.00 per WEEK. His hourly pay was $12.41 hour including shift differentials for a total gross pay of $496.40 per WEEK. It's absurd to think that anyone can afford to pay 77% of their gross earnings for healthcare. ACCESSABILITY IN NOT ENOUGH !!... (more)

I have been involved with traditional western health care through surgeries on my son's skull and my husband's heart problems. These were extremely expensive surgeries. Now I have discovered complementary and alternative forms of health care that are very safe and much cheaper. There are many wonderful methods that can relieve chronic conditions that medicine, radiation, and surgery can not take care of at any cost. These forms of health care need to be made available and covered by the health care plan that is proposed as well as regular... (more)

My best friend of 2 years has just been diagnosed with a degenerative bone disease that started from a tumor in his hip. He has only known about it for a little over 2 months and he has already gotten $3,000.00 worth of bills already. His work won't give him full time benefits even though he works over 40 hours a week. He cannot get insurance to cover this disease because it is now considered a pre-existing condition. He is about to give up on treatment which means he could be in a wheel chair in less than a year....just because he couldn't... (more)

My mother was denied chemotherapy for her cancer due to a "conflict" between medicare and her additional health plan. Both claimed the other should pay. She lost her battle with cancer due to red tape.

Saving Health care- Imagine you are in Departmental store. You aren't supposed to ask the price but buying all things almost of your choice. You don't have to pay! And Store keeper is happy to provide you more than you want. Because he can bill more if he sells more! This is the majority situation of today's Health Care system. The Customer is a patient; the Storekeeper is Doctor/Hospital/Health care provider. The Store owner is Medicare! Would you be surprise if store owner is bankrupted? One way to save the system is by... (more)

My husband was laid off about 5 years ago from his mechanical engineering position which was sent to China. He was eligible for insurance and we had to take it because my he has COPD and has had one lobe of his lung removed. The premiums and co-pays were tpo expensive. The job loss and his being too sick to work shortly after losing his job made it impossible for us to keep our home, we had to sell it. Also the plans to help our son with college were now impossible for us. Three years after losing his job he became eligble for Tricare... (more)

My husband and I have health care provided by our employer and we are quite appreciative. But even with insurance our out of pocket expense is hard to handle. I feel like we are only covered for a major illness. We don't always go to the doctor because the co pay and other non allowable charges are more than we can afford. Margaret Settle

In 2002 I had cancer and heart attack, I have to dr every 6 months and the amount I have to pay up front for extra tests is unreal. I have health insurance, but it is sky high. My 48 year old daughter does not have insurance and she has something they can't find, she even had exploritory surgery. Now she can't even afford the test to finlaze it.

COBRA is a joke and has always been unaffordable

I'm a T-12 paraplegic. I have not been able to work for years due to health problems. I have no idea how much my insurance company & medicare has paid for me. I would say around 200,000.00. It has been outragous!

I would like to hire another employee, but the cost of that employee's health insurance prevents me from doing that.

Mr President i'm not american i'm an Italy cityzen; i'm your fan in all your istance great regars Donato Carbone Italy

Two years ago I broke my arm requiring surgery which cost thousands of dollars more than we could afford. I know from personal experience that healthcare costs are out of control. I believe that healthcare reform is vital for our nation's economic security.

My mother is retired. He was a single mother who raised 8 children. She has been in terrible pain and can't have the surgery that she needs. She is already paying on a hospital bill that has a balance of thousands of dollars. She risks her life every time she has to skip a month of medication because she can't afford it. A friend of mine died leaveing behind a large faimly that loved him very much. His medication was too high and he couldn't afford insurance. If we don't reform our health care then we become a country without a heart.