My family carries the genes for a somewhat rare bone disease. Our bones, especially at he joints, sometimes develop boney plates. These plates cause the bones to become misshapen which can cause us to live in pain and sometimes lose function in our limbs. I am fortunate, now, but not when I was growing up, to have health insurance. My brother is not. At age 24, his arm has become so misshapen by the bone growth that he is often in very severe pain and is near to losing some motion in the arm. A simple surgery (an outpatient... (more)

I see my father-in-law, who has Alzheimer's disease, pay huge sums of money he can't afford for medication which helps him function. As is the case with Alzheimer's disease, he is getting worse, and his four children are struggling to find a way to afford full time care for the father they love and respect, while trying to put their own children through college, and deal with the economic downturn.

After working for 18 years with a huge international company I was laid off. I'm 57 years old and have the task of finding sufficient work to pay the bills. The COBRA coverage for my wife and me is $1200 a month. We simply can't afford to continue to pay that kind of money and make ends meet. The healthcare system in this country is appalling. There is no excuse for the richest country in the world to deny universal healthcare to its citizens. I applaud President Obabma's push for change. And if it means a modest tax increase, that's fine.... (more)

My family has been fortunate enough to have healthy, accident free lives. However, I was raised by a single mom who lost her job a little over a year ago. She searched tirelessly until she found something else in these hard economic times, her biggest worry being the outrageous cost of health care for our family. She has so many things to worry about everyday, but providing good health care for her children should not be one of them.

Dear President Obama, With all due respect Mr. President how can you achieve these goals without an Alternative Public Plan like Medicare? Please don't tell me we are going to depend on the promises of corporations to do the right thing. They have proven over and over if they are not legislated to do the right thing over profit they won't. They can't they are addicted to their big fat executive bonuses and beholden to Wall Street first. We keep going down this road the most recent example is the Banking industry meltdown. One of the... (more)

My daughter turned 25 and was no longer permitted to be covered on our family's plan.When she tried to purchase a simple plan she was turned down by every insurance company because she had been on anti depressants and had gone to therapy to deal with her depression. No one would cover her.

It is utterly and totally obscene that the USA does not have health care funding for every single one of its citizens. This MUST be rectified NOW!!!!!!!!!

I WORK IN HIGH TECH... ONE MINUTE YOU HAVE A JOB, THE NEXT MINUTE YOU ARE LAID OFF. THE HIGHS ARE HIGH, THE LOWS ARE LOW. ALL THE WHILE, WE NEED HEALTH CARE. WHEN LEAVING A JOB, HAVING CONTINUING MEDICAL COVERAGE IS EXTREMELY EXPENSIVE, AND SOMETIMES NOT POSSIBLE. EVEN WITH A JOB, MEDICAL EXPENSES ARE OVER WAY TOO HIGH.

I am a 30 year old working professional. For all of my working career, which started while I was a Freshman in College, I have always had Health Insurance. Several years ago, I got married, but due to a mental illness which was discovered after the marriage, we divorced within 2 years. She is currently in and out of the mental hospital, with little support insurance wise, and resources being taken away from the mentally ill everyday! As for myself, I have been left with quite a debt load from the divorce, as I took on most of her debt... (more)

Three stories: (1) I pay a large HMO $629/month for myself only. Recently I found records from 2005-- only 3-1/2 years ago-- and the premium was $308. I was shocked at the increase. (2) I have helped raise 2 girls since birth who are not my biological children. One-- a healthy woman of 21 years- is graduating from college this June. One of my top concerns is whether she can get health care coverage in a job. That's a horrible priority for sending a young graduate out into the world. The message should be "Go use your talents and education... (more)

Our friend has followed all the rules and has just recently found that the only resolution to his health problem is a $10,000 procedure that is not insured. In the big picture of health care nightmares I realize this is peanuts, but it's a matter of quality of life for our friend. It's time for a change and we trust President Obama and his team to GET IT DONE!!!

We must have a viable public health system. Isurance companies have far too much say in the health care of an individual. Doctors are the only ones that can properly diagnose and prescribe treatment. Insurance costs are too high. An example is a freind of mine who has severe, crippling arthritis. She does not go to a doctor because her although her health care premium is $1500 per month, she has a deductible of $1500 so most of her care is out of pocket. Insurance companies have driven the cost of care out of sight for ordinary working... (more)

This is my story: I am a California stay-at-home mom with 2 children, ages 5 and 8. Our family has health care coverage through my husband's employer. We have Kaiser Permanente medical coverage.We are lucky and yet we live with the knowledge that if my husband were to lose his job, we would also lose our affordable health care coverage. We live with the knowledge that we are vulnerable, that there is no safety net should we have a financial emergency. Is this freedom?

I am in good health. My concern is for the unemployeed, underemployedand andthe elderly that can not afford the care they need. It is time for a human approach to health care.The drug companies and insurers have had it their way too long. Thank you.

I have been with and without health care for the last ten years. Mostly without. For the last 3 years, I had health care, and was starting to really appreciate it. Then, our company was taken over by the FCIC (Washington Mutual) and sold to JP Morgan who immediately started to close down almost all support offices on the west coast. (Even though the reason they bought WAMU was to have a presence on the West Coast. Turns out they wanted the money of the residents in the West, but could care less about the majority of the workers in the west.... (more)

Until very recently I had been out of work for the past two years (laid off my job), and had no insurance during that time. A few years ago, when I was going to graduate school, I also had no insurance. Luckily, nothing catastrophic happened to me during these times, as the financial ramifications of a serious illness or injury are daunting. Other countries have universal insurance coverage for their citizens. if they did it, surely we can too. Shelly Ryan

Only being recently insured, I have experienced the dark side of our current health care system. In 2007 I was becoming extremely ill with an unknown ailment which was causing me to miss a lot of work. I tried to find affordable healthcare options, but with supporting my wife through law school, I could not afford the neccessary care. On the money I did spend, I was sorely dissappointed on the time and effort that was spent on me as the medical personal knew that I did not have insurance and did not want to waste the time on trying to... (more)

Insurance companies have no business in healthcare. Singlepayer is the only system that will guarantee coverage for every American, and reasonable prices for drugs, with 306,000,000 customers. Reasons require a long period of discussion, face to face.

My doctor suggested a hernia repair. I reported to the hospital as required and for no apparent was sent to a hospital room and sat on a chair for about 20 minutes, did not touch the bed, turn on the TV, get a drink of water, use the bathroom, or use the room except to undress and put on a hospital gown. I was then sent to another room where the doctor arrived,cleaned the incision site, put in a plastic repair and five stiches and sent me home. I used the hospital room again only to dress and left the hospital gown on the chair. The entire... (more)

My concern is for my son who does have health care now, but the company he is working for has been laying off co-workers, and I'm afraid his turn may come next. He has a daughter, 8 yrs. old, who has epileptic seizures, and he is type 1 diabetic. Both of these require heavy medical expenses that he could not afford.