As a woman in her upper 30's with a family history of diabetes and high blood pressure, I have struggled every day since high school to lose weight and keep it off. I have tried every over the counter drug, daily exercise, every diet know to man, and the only thing that produced real results was Phen-Fen which was later pulled from the market. Research into this area can take years, which many of us don't have, and seems slowed down by government beauracracy. I am now trying Meridia with a hope for help with my weight.When I have picked up... (more)

I'm a health care worker. Everyone should be entitled to good medcal care. No one should be turned down because of pre health conditions.

I am a 58-year-old male with an individual policy. Health Net has raised just raised my health insurance premium to $567 per month, an increase of $94. I don't have diabetes, cancer, heart disease or any other major illness. I asked another health plan for an application. It requires me to complete 8 pages of documents, explaining in detail all my previous and existing medical conditions and requiring that I deposit the first month premium, regardless of whether they accept me or not. This is ridiculous.

I carry high quality health insurance through my employer. Through it I have been able to provide insurance for all members of my family, until recently. My son is a recent college graduate and has for the past year and a half been looking for work in his field. He has had to settle for part time work as a substitute teacher which provides no benefits. During this past year, he turned 25 years old and is no longer eligible under my employer health plan. He's done everything right, obtained a college degree, taken excellent care of his... (more)

I have been working as a part time employee since 2001 for the City of Vacaville, CA. Because the costs of monthly premium, I can't afford health care insurance. I'm taking a big risk every day with out a health insurance but what can I do? I would like to see a reduced cost in the monthly premium and a better and honest health care system in USA. Thanks We have our hope in President Obama.

Dear President Obama, I am a hard working class citizens. Currently I have two teenage daughters that needs ongoing health and dental care. It is difficult at times to pay a mere co-payment of $20.00 per visit and medications that are $10.00 per prescription. It is equally important to pay the mortgage and car payment to have a place to live and to be able to get to work to pay the bills. I try really hard to stay in good shape and healthy because my children need me. Their dad is 75 years old and although we are separated I still keep... (more)

I was unemployed for six months in 2008. My company was acquired and my position was eliminated. My Cobra premium & prescriptions alone ran me $975.00/month. My unemployment check was only $1800/month. I drained ALL my retirements (401k, Roth-IRA, Annuities) because I didn't get a "golden parachute" like the AIG, bank executives and Wall Street muckity-mucks. I was lucky to get what I got, but it was not enough. Now I'm working for less that what I made before AND paying a higher premium with more out of pocket expense... (more)

My name is Ashley Lankford and I'm a 28 year old recent widow. My husband passed away unexpectedly 10 weeks ago. Two weeks after his passing, I was forced to sign up for Cobra. I couldn't believe how fast I could be dropped, especially since I was 27 weeks pregnant. I am very thankful to have the option of Cobra but it is very costly. My plan is almost $600/month. With the cost of my husband's funeral arrangements and the loss of my husband's income, I was stressed about making the Cobra payments. Luckily, the hospital my husband worked fir... (more)

My family and I are in a no win situation because Polycystic Kidney Disease runs in our family. (4 generations) PKD is an heretitary disease that affects 1 in 500 people to some degree. Our particular version of the disease is ADPKD. Although cysts begin to grow early in life, as you age, thousands of cyst grow in your kidneys making them enlarged (some up to 30 lbs a piece)reducing function to the point that dialysis or a kidney transplant is necessary. There is no treatment and NO cure. I am 51 years old. I am on our local kidney transplant... (more)

I am paying almost $900 A MONTH for 'retiree benefit' health insurance . . . this, along with RX's and co-pays comes to over $14000 a year and does not include dental care or optical. When I do file a claim it always seems to require a follow-up. My social security is $1497 a month, so the math is easy and cruel. My brother in Canada pays almost nothing with Canada Care . . . neither due my peers in Europe. Worked 45 years 50-70 hours a week only to watch my savings go into the healthcare 'hole' . . . something must be done to streamline... (more)

My father was diagnosed with lung cancer in December 2008. He received radiation and chemotherapy treatment paid for by Medicare. At 67 years old, he went back to work for a couple of weeks after the treatments were over because his income from Social Security and my mother's pay from her full-time job (she's 65) was not enough. He quickly declined while working and had to stop because he was unable to continue. Now, his cancer has spread to his brain and must undergo radiation treatments for that, which may or may not help. My mother has had... (more)

Even with good health insurance, I know what it's like to face financial disaster. The premiums go up almost yearly; so do the co-pays. Six months ago I broke my spine in 4 places. I have spent thousands of out-of-pocket dollars to cover the annual deductible and co-pays--not to mention the loss of wages due to the injury. On top of my health care & financial concerns is that my 23-year old daughter, a college graduate, is uninsured and cannot afford to pay for health insurance as she faces a poor job market. She has to wait for months to... (more)

My ex-wife has a physician who supported the misdiagnosis of his predecessor.When she produced irrefutable evidence for her contention he reluctantly conceded that she might be right.She would like to change physicians,but the Supervisor won't permit it.

I have Health Insurance under Health Net and it is adequate. I am a full-time teacher, 60 yrs. old, with minimal health problems. I am planning on retiring at 63 yrs. old and am fearful that I won't be able to afford Health Coverage since it would then be unaffordable.... I pray that the elderly, who have given so much to help build American and its citizens, will be accommodated equitably with President Obama's Health Plan. All Americans are worth it... Please, Justice for ALL.

I am very fourtunate to have health coverage through my employer. However, I was injured a few years back and my coverage expired at the same time I couldn't afford to pay for COBRA beacause it was too much for me. Fortunately, none of my wife and children needed to get treatment during that period of time. Otherwise, I don't know what I could have done.

I have enjoyed the service and manageable cost of Kaiser Permanente health care since taking my first career position after college in the mid 1960's, services including: routine care, maternity care, routine and extraordinary care for myself and family members. Kaiser-Permanente is a successful model that deserves examination. It allows for choosing a regular doctor from within the staff, consultations, preventative health care, surgery, specialists, etc. The costs are far from prohibitive; they are a bargain. As I retire from public... (more)

My husband was laid off from his job in July, 2008. We opted to take the Cobra Insurance as we could not afford to be without. Losing 60% of your household income and still having to pay for health insurance at nearly $1200 a month was very difficult but we had no choice because of my husband's medical issues. Approximately one month after the lay off in 2008, my husband experienced a second heart attack. Fortunately we were able to keep up with the premiums by cutting costs wherever we could or our lives could have been devastated by the... (more)

Today I sit here at UCSF Medical center after having a kidney transplant last Thursday, June 18, 20009. My wonderful selfless husband was my blessed donor. So two incomes lost while we both recover. And no guarantees in life - I immediately went into rejection. All tests prior to transplant showed that for non-related donors we were as good a match as possible, but that isn't all there is to our miracle bodies. Things do as they please. Nature intends for us to fight all foreign invaders, cancer cells, flu's, colds, and others organs. My... (more)

I arrived in the US in 1991, I was 27 years old. I was born in France. I experienced both Europe and the US. Several years ago I became an American Citizen and it is the most exciting day of my life. I still can see my husband (who was born in the US) waiting for me outside the building where I received my Citizenship in Sacramento with a American flag and a rose! What I love about the US is the sense that anything is possible! It is still a young country, there are not as many barriers as there are in Europe. Europe can be cynical (been... (more)

My husband was employed by the telephone company for 30 years. Then he retired. As a result, we have coverage under the Kaiser plan. I worked for the prison system, state of California. Therefore I belong to PERS (public employees retirement system). WE have the option of choosing our insurence plan also, but I have to pay $100.00 a month for coverage by Blue Shield from my retirement check whether I see a doctor of not. Whenever we use my husbands coverage, we have to pay for every visit eventhough we are insured. We also have to pay for... (more)