Health Care

My sister has multiple myeloma, an incurable kind of bone cancer. She was diagnosed six years ago. For six months she was out of work on long term disability. Fortunately, she works for a very large law firm and has very good health insurance. She is on multiple drugs, including pain medication, that cost over $2,000 per month. Now she is able to work. She has been in remission for the last five years, but she cannot think about retiring because she could not afford the insurance. Ultimately, she would have to sell her town home and qualify for Medicaid since she is not old enough for Medicare. This is just an illustration of what many people face. They have lost their homes and gone bankrupt because of serious illnesses.

I am a single woman and own a commercial cleaning business. I had to drop my health insurance for two months because I could not afford it. I prayed that nothing would happen. Health care is very important for me and my daughter. At age 59, I cannot quit working because I cannot afford health care without work. Americans do not want to do this kind of work. I have hired some legal citizens but it is difficult. Americans are not going to scrub people's toilets!

I am an emergency room doctor. I saw a 48 year old male patient, who did not have health insurance. He came to me because of kidney stones. He made four other ER visits before he came to the hospital where I work. Other than relieving his pain, no action could be taken with regards to his kidney stones because it was not catastrophic. This guy will miss numerous days of work because we cannot treat his kidney stones.

My adopted son had some mental health and acting out problems during his adolescence. Consequently, at times he was a danger to my family. After several years in residential treatment facilities in Massachusetts, he enlisted in the army and went into the airborne division. During a drop he was injured and received a general discharge. Read More >

I have been really lucky. I have good health care, but a friend of mine hasn't been so lucky. He was not able to get an education and has gone from one dead end job to another and hasn't been able to get coverage at all. When he was a kid, he got hit by a car and messed up his shoulder. Lately, it has been flaring up but he can't go to the doctor. He also can't get preventative care because it is too expensive without insurance. I support universal health care so no one will be in this situation.