Your Stories

“My wife and I are both self employed, she left a state job 2 years back when we moved to Florida where I had taken a consulting position, I have been self employed for 15 years. We no longer were entitled to the great health benefits we enjoyed when my wife worked for the state. The issue is that our son has a pre-existing condition and we are unable to get insurance coverage for him. yes it is possible to get this coverage but at the cost of going bankrupt! I am not against paying toward health care but I do take issue when a child of 7 years of age can not get coverage due to insurance companies refising on grounds of pre-existing conditions that he shows no signs off? If we are supposedly the most advanced and caring nation in the world then how come a 7 year old child is refused health care or can not afford health care due to the high cost? Shame on us. Reform is needed urgently to address this shameful situation in our country.”

“My family lives in Minnesota, a year and a half ago my husband was laid off his job, about the same time that I was diagnosed with a serious illness, we lost our health insurance, and incurred medical expenses being in a private pay status and being ineligible for any county medical assistance. My husband found another job near Chicago which is four hours away, the job provides health insurance, so for the last year he has only been home on the weekends, or less. We have two young children at home and two in college. Two months ago my husband lost 50 percent of his income in his current job due to company cutbacks, but he needed to keep the job due to the health insurance benefit, as I was needing medical care and unable to work myself at this time, I am a nurse. Our house has just gone into foreclosure. We are unable to afford our house and have no idea what were going to do or where we'll go. Our 19 year old daughter is quitting college this week and coming home to work full time earning minimum wage. We need Health Care Reform as soon as possible! Thank you so much!”

“My husband lost his job a year ago and used it as an opportunity to start his own small business since jobs in his field were, and continue to be, hard to come by. We had to opt for private insurance because COBRA was going to be too expensive for us, at approximately $1500 per month. Going without insurance is not an option because my husband is healthy, but has a medical history that requires maintenance medications. We also have two children who need to be insured. I work full-time for a small business that does not offer insurance to its employees. I make too much money for our children to qualify for Medicaid. The private insurance we chose offers much less coverage than the plan we had under my husband's former employer, and it cost $700 a month last year. Starting next month, our rate will increase to $850 per month unless we choose to drop the prescription coverage, in which case it will increase to $712 per month. We are now looking at plans that are cheaper, but have a higher deductible and are less comprehensive because we cannot continue to pay such high prices. Something needs to be done about health care now. I don't mind paying my fair share for coverage, but it is ridiculous that my health insurance payment is almost the same amount as my mortgage. These two payments use up almost my entire paycheck.”

“As an emergency physician in one of the nation's busiest urban county hospitals I am on the front line, trying to provide basic health care to an ever growing population of underinsured patients that present to an emergency department because it is their only access point to the health care system... Health Care needs to begin with prevention and a basic knowledge of preservation of health. I educate dozens of patients a day about simple first aid and how their bodies work and am surprised that these basics are not taught in school.”

“My husband is a small business owner and I work part-time so that I can care for our two and half year old son, who is the only person in our household with health insurance. As a family, we have done the math a million ways to try and figure out how to afford a decent individual health insurance policy. As it is, we could only afford a policy with a high deductible ($1,000 each), which essentially means we would pay for our own care and pay an insurance premium. It simply doesn't make any economic sense for us, even though we know we are risking our home and property in the event of a major medical crisis. We need health care reform now (well, many years ago) because there are more and more people like us: people who work full-time…but not for a company that provides a health benefit.”

“When my son turned 22, he ‘aged out’ of the family's health insurance plan. (He was no longer covered.) He applied to an insurance company for an individual health insurance policy. He assumed that, because he was young, strong, and healthy, his application for coverage would be approved. But the company did their ‘due diligence’ and discovered that my son had recently been treated for the dreaded disease, strep throat. My son received a letter from the insurance company stating that his application would be denied BECAUSE HE HAD HAD STREP THROAT! That, (strep throat, one step up from a cold) was his ‘pre-existing condition’! Talk about cherry-picking only the healthy to insure--I guess, with this company, if my son had admitted to having a hang-nail within the preceding three years, he would have been denied coverage. This is WRONG, and I fully support President Obama's plans to change the way health insurance is delivered in our country.”

“When my position in public education was stripped of its health care benefit package four years ago, I elected to stay on until I could find a better position with equal pay that would provide me with basic coverage. I am still looking for that job. In the meantime, I continue to take the risk of living day to day without any medical coverage. I have heard the horror stories of the uninsured who fall ill or are victim to accidents, yet as a single person who must pay rent, maintain a car and keep up with everyday expenses, I cannot take on the additional burden of a $400-plus monthly health premium with a deductible. Therefore, I take my chances. As a person who prides herself on healthy lifestyle habits, I think it is shortsighted of our government not to provide a basic modestly priced healthcare package for those who are currently in good health and practice preventative care for themselves. My heart goes out to my fellow citizens who are in a worse position than myself. There really is no justifiable excuse, it just has never been a priority to our lawmakers to put its citizens basic needs first.

*This submission comes from the website of Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse. To view more health care stories from Rhode Island, please visit http://whitehouse.senate.gov/

“Health care reform is long overdue. I am a health care provider and a single mother of a chronically ill child who has reached 21 years of age. As a health care provider I have cared for the underserved populations for the greater portion of my years as a practicing nurse and nurse practitioner. I presently work for a county health system. One third of my monthly salary goes to my health insurance premium. My daughter requires health care from a major medical center that is doing research regarding her suspected diagnosis. I am required to carry a PPO which is an 80/20 plan after an annual deductible. After a few hospitalizations that 20% adds up. Further I have worked two to three jobs (at the same time) over the years and have kept her on private health insurance paying large premiums and many times finding I have to challenge the insurance company to get them to pay for her medications and treatment. Now that she is 21yrs of age and unable to attend school or work, I face her loosing her health insurance due to age restrictions.”