My daughter is a bright and talented young woman who suffers from bipolar syndrome. She is functioning well under treatment, but is on a very expensive COBRA plan (she now works as a contractor for her former employer; she resigned during her last depressive episode). Like so many others, our daughter would benefit enormously from a public health insurance option. Post-COBRA coverage is EVEN more expensive than COBRA, with very few choices. Of course we hope our daughter will have employer-based insurance by then, but I do not believe that we... (more)

I have a small data storage business in Menlo Park, California and we are still growing even in this economy. My family health insurance cost went from $1530 every quarter to over $2350 every quarter. When I called Blue Shield to ask why such a steep price rise, they told me it's just normal annual increase. Thankfully we are all healthy, but we can't either afford to sustain such steep increases nor am I foolish enough to drop the insurance. I feel we are stuck in a lose lose choice. We have to fix this now. Thanks for listening, Abtin

As a consultant, I found I had to pay astronomical prices for individual plans for health insurance. Now that I'm retired, I pay a small fortune every month.

I am appalled by real stories about Americans who cannot afford health insurance for themselves and their families. It is a national disgrace that health care is unaffordable to so many Americans. I myself have been fortunate to have been a member of Kaiser Permanente Foundation's health plan since 1966, through my employer, and since I retired, through Medicare. This plan is humane, comprehensive, professional, and offers choice and dignity at a reasonable cost. It is a model that demonstrably works, and gives the lie to those who say the... (more)

i think that health care should be a universal right in this country. My costs to my family go up annually even though we are healthy and have good jobs. Its a burden. The best health care I have ever received is when I got it free through California medi-cal program for low income people. This shows me that it is a false premise that private insurance works better.

My sister was diagnosed with lung cancer, stage 4, 2 years ago. The medical bills have been more stressful to her than the chemo treatments, the hair loss, the great fatigue and the pain. Even though she has insurance through Blue Cross, she has put out thousands of dollars for her share of the bills. She has moved in with our father to rent her house for needed funds.

Our family has lost three children to heart disease and our two surviving children are alive today thanks to donors and the modern miracle of heart transplants 25 years ago at Stanford Medical Center. Over 43 years, our family has wasted hundreds of unnecessary hours fighting the corporate bureaucrats for both coverage and payment for end-stage heart disease as well as necessary treatments for the gift of extended, productive lives that our Andy and Lizzy are enjoying 25 years after surgery. The USA is the only G8 country which cruelly... (more)

I've worked at painfully oversubscribed low-cost/no cost clinics where people come who have no insurance and no choices. They wait 4 hours or more for an appointment, if they aren't turned away that day. I've also seen who shows up at emergency rooms in my area. I know a large number of people who are un(der) employed who don't have any coverage, and defer care because they cannot pay, resulting in worsening diseases that cost more money (not even counting human suffering) to treat. We are giving the worst care at the highest prices, and not... (more)

I am a senior citizen, so already benefit from Medicare. The important thing to me is that costs be reduced so Medicare will remain viable. Of course, I also want the U.S. to catch up with the medical care available in all advanced countries.

My sister has never been able to afford health insurance and therefore never went to see a doctor. The minute she turned 65 and had Medicare she went to a doctor. It was too late and she had serious arterial disease and colon cancer.

I have multiple sclerosis, and even with (very expensive) health care coverage, my medication costs $800 a month, which is really a stretch. I have patients (I'm a physician) who cannot afford these medications, and so their disease progresses more quickly than it would with treatment.

I have no health insurance. That says it all.

We live full time in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico and are anxious to have Medicare cover our medical procedures here. The health care is excellent and cheaper than in the US. It would save the US Government money to enable us to be treated here and not have to return to the US. As it stands now, we must return to California for surgeries and would feel very comfortable having them done here, if it were covered by Medicare. Thank you very much. Barbara Dulik

My story is two fold. One the one hand I am a Service Coordinator in HUD senior housing. I regularly see seniors and disabled people who fall through the crack of our healthcare system. Many times it will be in the istance of someone who is very poor, but not poor enough for Medicaid. They budget strickly to afford their Medicare Advantage plans (if they qualify) and pray that their out of pocket costs are minimal. As for myself, I am one of those uninsurable Americans. My pre-existing conditions make it so I can't get health insurance. ... (more)

We need reform A single payer system (yes, the government!) preferred! Josephine Killen

I have a rare neurological disorder that causes my vocal cords to spasm and causes breaks in the voice, ending my law career early. The insurance programs in place make it expensive and difficult to get injections of Botox into the vocal cords, a process that requires experience to "hit the right spot" and my insurance system is too inflexible to let me go outside the network. Marcia Sterling

many years ago, i was without health care. finally, i became so ill, i had to have a transplant. i think that wouldn't have happened if i had health care.

I'm having a baby and can't afford for her to get sick.

In 2006, at 48 years of age, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. Hearing the words "you have cancer" from my doctor was devastating but nothing could have prepared me for the battle that would then ensue with my insurance carrier. They would loose claims, pay medical providers late, pay a minuscule portion of the bills or refuse to pay them at all. So while I was home recovering from my life saving surgery I had to waste so much time battling my insurance carrier for payment of my bills. Retrieving my mail from my mail box would... (more)

I was without health insurance (because of its high cost) for many years while I chose to pursue personal growth rather than a job that no longer fit me. I became a much better person and am very lucky that I did not have a medical emergency during those years. I am now employed happily and finally once again have health insurance. But I don't really like what I have since it does not recognize my preferred doctor, who is an anthroposophical doctor (an MD with extra anthroposophical, or holistic, training). She is not part of a PPO... (more)