Husband is laid off; son is in last year of college. Quite simply, my deductibles are way out of line. Glad we have a President willing to start a change

My sons are in their twenties and cannot afford health care. Health care should be affordable for all.

I am a nursing home administrator in a Culture Change skilled nursing facility. I have been employed in long term care for 35 years. In my industry it is time for the regulations and regulators to catch up with what residents and families want. Affordable healthcare, in a home like setting, caring staff and quality medical care. Families agonize over the costs of care, causing undue anxiety and frequently health concerns. I have frequently observed the healthy spouse succuumbing years before the resident in the nursing home because of the... (more)

The deductables on my healthcare are so high that sometimes we have to deceide to buy less groceries or not pay a bill.

WORKING FOR A VA HOSPITAL I SEE WHAT WE DO WITH LESS AND SERVE MANY. EVERYONE SHOULD BE ENTITLED TO SOME FORM OF HEALTHCARE. ONE IDEA WOULD BE TO LET VETS SPOUSES HAVE ACCESS TO VA HEALTHCARE. THOSE IN THERE GOLDEN YEARS AND BABY BOOMERS, IT WOULD EASE MEDICARE AND COST WOULD BE LOWER.

Both my husband and I have health care issues. I am a diabetic and he has COPD. I fear losing my job and our health care. Dind a way to resolve this for every American.

In Nov. 2007 I was diagnosed with colon cancer. Dec. 2008 I got a report that I was cancer free. Having cancer in my health records, I will have a hard time finding another insurance company that I can afford if I should loose my job.

Dear Mr. President, I have worked in the health care field for 30 years. I percieve a great deal of duplication and buracracy involved in health care that I feel increases health care costs. My son has mental illness and heart problems and is on Medicare. Since he was diagnosed before he was 16 we wrote and asked that he be maintained on our private health and dental insurance. This makes our private insurance his primary insurance and Gateway/Medicare his secondary. It sounds simple, but there are a barage of individuals whose only job is... (more)

I have a daughter who is mentally and physically ill. She has had no continuum of care and has had to rely on emergency rooms. If she had decent health care, she might be able to be a productive and stable citizen. As it is now, she is homeless and very ill. She has utilized emergency rooms many times in the past year alone. While her so-called "care and treatment" is costing the hospital thousands of dollars, many of which are not reimbursed, my daughter's health and sanity continue to decline. This situation,like many others... (more)

I have a friend, new to the community, a professional educator. Her job is less than full time so she does not have health insurance coverage. She does not qualify for SCHIP. The reason: she is elgible to buy into the school's health insurance and pay for it herself. If she would do this she would not have enough money to live. She owns only a bicycle and keeps the heat at 45 all winter in order to make ends meet. Sometime in the future she may be able to afford health insurance but there are others who do not even have that hope for the... (more)

I have two kids in college and cannot see how they will be able to afford decent health care coverage once they leave the nest. I'm concerned for many Americans who don't have the means to get coverage. Tax breaks only work when you're making enough money to pay taxes. There are so many people working in food service or retail or labor jobs that don't make enough that a tax break will help.

Currently I am one of the uninsured! The retail store I worked for closed after 35 years of being in business. I have been unemployed since then with no viable prospects at this point. I pay for my prescription drugs out of pocket and after doing that, there is no money left for insurance premiums. I am keeping

I was on the Blue Chip Program when I as a child because my family could not afford otherwise. When I was 18 I was no longer in school and I lost my chip coverage. I am 27 now and i just got a job that ha benifits including health insurance. Before now i had no insurance and i always worked so the sstate said i made too much to be on a state program. I made $7 an hour how is that possibly too much? Well because i didnt have insurance for 9 years i am in real bad health. I have all sorts of problems with my asthma because i had to give up... (more)

My wife and I are retired and living on a fixed income. The rise in the costs of healthcare and health insurance premiums has placed a severe burden on our finances. We could have weathered the economic downturn much better if we didn't have such high medical costs and medical insurance premiums.

Keystone East HMO and other like programs are anti-competitive and profit driven with very weak health care services. Too much paper work with no real results but mostly confusion and stress. It is too bad it has come to these kinds of health care systems.

Health care costs continue to skyrocket. If we do not reform the system now, more and more individuals will be without proper health care. We can not allow this to happen. We need to be responsible for each and everyone of our citizens.

I work in a benefits department and have seen first-hand how the costs affect our employees and their families and how insurance companies deny services out-of-hand. It is time - it is past time - to guarantee that every American has access to decent, affordable health care. My three children have been laid off, and only one has health care, which is only affordable because of the recent legislation regarding COBRA. I was admitted to the hospital recently, and the insurance company is denying my claim because they don't think it was a... (more)

As a home health nurse, I see on a daily basis the need for primary level health care - neighborhood nurses to educate, screen, and treat folks - particularly our underinsured and under-educated elderly. We certainly cannot fix all the problems a lifetime of poor health choices have caused, but nurses can be a beginning! P.S. Puh-leeze put the lid on pharmaceutical advertising -- here's a HUGE cause of overspending of Medicare and insurance monies. Big Pharma is a BIG player in the dreadful state of U.S. health care.

The story that is affecting our entire family. On March 12th this year, my 12 yrs young nephew, Devon Hutchins took ill and was diagnosed with AVM/Aneurism and has been in medical facilities since that time. While at Robert Wood children's specialized hospital, his mother, Courtney Morrison was informed by the staff, that because her job will no longer pay for his medical care, that he had to be moved to a specila nursing home. And todate, that is where Devon remains. The problem seems to be, that if your child has not shown signs of... (more)

In sharing my story, I hope to shed light on what is and will be a health care crisis for young Americans such as myself. I'm now 24 years old. At the age of 18, on an otherwise-ordinary morning, the residence advisor of my college dorm informed me that my parents had come to see me. The looks of stark terror on their faces revealed the reason for their visit. The night before, my mother had answered the call that no parent wishes to receive. The doctor had confirmed papillary thyroid cancer, and I would need surgery. While I was strangely... (more)