coverage

My health insurance went up 80% with some of the coverage being decreased effective February 2010 because the carrier was so unsure of what would happen if your health care reform passed.   Now I am worried what will happen in 2011.  I also have to manage the increase in my Medicare part B premium.  I  had to leave my job because I have had Multiple Sclerosis for over 23 years and  my husband is  retired because we are on a fixed income  the cost of my health insurance is a financial concern. We are having to deal with outrageous increases in our health insuirancewithout the benefit of any increase in our income. I voted for you and was optimistic that things would get better.  So far I have been dissapointed in the lack of transparency, the economy and I am missing your inspiring visions of POSITIVE change. I am hoping that you will do something to stop these outrageous incerases in health insurance. Candace Moore

Thank you Michelle for your email about the Affordable Care Act but what about this new revision in the health care reform bill?  This does not help women or families be healthy!The final health care reform bill included extensive restrictions on using federal funds to pay for abortion coverage, but the decision announced by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services yesterday goes beyond even these restrictions.The Obama administration has decided that no woman in the new high-risk insurance pools will be allowed to obtain abortion coverage beyond limited cases (rape, incest, endangering the life of the woman). Not even if she pays for that coverage with her own money.This is totally unacceptable!!!Please have a word with your husband concerning this issue!Thank you,Jill M. Stone

Hello Mr.Barack Obama My name is Aadam I am a Canadian I wanted to say that you should make Health care coverage for the US because not everyone in the states can offord the health care because some people have a less income. The immigration not refuse entry to anyone into the states unless the person has a criminal record on their passport and the immigration should have a senser to sense if people are bringing weapons into the states. Do you think this is a good idea.    

Dear President Obama,  I just heard disturbing news today. After having worked all my life including being a veteran of the United States Air Force, I was permantly laid off from my job at a local Hospice when they managed to lose two million dollars. I went on unemployment that barely paid the bills and fed my family and sadly as an LPN, my options in this area were limited. ( I'm not sure your healthcare bill is working...no offense)  Today I found out abrubtly that my second tier of unemployment is over and I am ineligible for EUC until August. So I'm quite curious about how I am going to not only make payments on my bills, but afford gas and food on ....well, NO MONEY. I am defiinitely between that rock and the hard place. I have plans to attend school in August, but am still unsure how much assistance I will recieve. I deeply appreciate the effort you made with the POST 911 schooling assistance, but once again, even though I served honorably for four years, I was discharged June 20, 2002. And as I didn't serve two years following the Trade Center terrorist attack, I am limited in my access to those funds, unlike fellow service members including my cousin who is now enjoying your largesse. I have always been a strong supporter of your administration and actually voted for you despite the fact that I'm a registered Republican.. I feel that you have been working under tremendous pressures, Not the least is the present tradgedy of the oil spill in our beautiful gulf. I live 5 minutes from the beaches in Pasco County. I shall continue to pray for you and your family. In closing, I know that I am just one small cog in the wheel, but one that is floundering. I need help. If there is any way you can help, I'm actually begging, Mr President. With my utmost respect, Heather K Sitzes LPN New Port Richey, Florida 34652  phone: 727-849-0375

Mr. President,  First and foremost, I would like to thank you for your courage and inspiration you have given to myself and my family.   I find myself writing to you regarding the healthcare no pre-existing for denial thing... I am a 38 year old woman with 4 beautiful daughters.  I have ALWAYS had health insurance, until my husband and I divorced 3 years ago.  also, I have been diagnosed bi-polar manic with ADHD since I was in my early 20's.  Over the last 3 years of my "no insurance" life, I have continued to see my local county mental health clinic, and stayed on my meds out of my pocket.  Fast forwar to April, 2010, my ex-husband and I reconcilled our relationship and our famiily... and found a new home to move into together.  A week before we moved in, I found a lump in my breast.  Three weeks after moving into our new home, I found a lump in my other breast as well.  I applied to two different companies, BCBS, and through Farm Bureau... I have NOT been or talked to a Dr. yet because specifically I am terrified of the pre-existing thing... apparantly that was for goosd cause... I got a denial from BCBS stating specifically in black & white I am denied because of my bipolar and adhd diagnosis, and just recieved a duplicate denial letter from farm bureau for the same reasons.   I recently posted this as my status on my facebook page, This is prob not fb appropriate, but...its me, so whatev... So I haven't had health insurance for 3 years, found 2 lumpies in the girls, haven't been to the Dr. Yet, (cuz I'm freaked out & becausew no insurance), and now I try to buy insurance & I'm denied? Great... Now what am I going to do besides die from breast can...cer because I have no insurance? Seriously... Any suggestions anyone? In the 20+ responses I received, a few mwntioned I should write to you, as this one.... I thought for sure no more denials for pre-existing conditions took affect immediately upon passage of Obamacare. That doesn't mean companies aren't still trying to get away with it though. You might try the White House website and see if you find something there about how to make sure you don't get denied So..... here I write... a very scared Mom in Lenexa, KS... If you ever do actually get to read this, and have any suggestions, I can be contacted at tracigentry3@yahoo.com, or my cell is 913-378-3760...   Again, thank you for your leadership of our country, I am soooo thankful for a change!   Respectfully,   Teresa (Traci) Gentry Lenexa, Kansas Read more about Pre-Existing denial's from Health Insurance Carriers

Dear Mr. President, Please close the medicare gap for drug coverage earlier than 10 years, your plan is not helping the average medicare person...My husband takes very expensive insulin that costs 500.00 dollars a vile, we then have to pay for the insulin for 6 months ourselves. a lot of changes need to be made in medicare to help the disabled & the elderly..A lot of people will have to stop taking the medicine or go hungry, I find this appauling that is how we treat our elderly & disabled. Another thing, why can't they buy other insurance to help with the donut hole, this is outrageous that because you have medicare you can't only have one medication coverage or get pentalilized if you join in the middle of the calender year, this to me makes no sense..Isn't this a monoply? Number 2, where is all the money that they borrowed from medicare, & why can't they put it back?..I also find that at the 10 year mark when it will start covering that 25% is still too much to pay, & it should only be 10% they should have to pay for the medication. 

Dear Mr. President I Write to you While in pain, I have no insurance nor do i have work at this giving moment, my Kidney stop functioning do to a massive stone ((more than a inch diameter)) went to the emergency room ,and had a stent put inside me so the kidney can work ..Now i'm in the house with the stent inside me with massive pain trying to make an appoinment to get the rest of my treatment,, but now all I'm getting is ,do you have insurance , or need to bring a few of hundreds of dollars to be treated which i dont have at the moment,,i told them if i could have a paying plan , and still waitting for an answer ,,, i know there are lots of people like me having the same or worst health problems,, i wish there would be a way to deal with this situation not just for me but for everyone.                                                                         Thank you so much                                                                          Pedro M Quinones

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/09/02-5 Why Is Universal Health Care ‘Un-American’? by Rev. Jim Rigby Last week supporters of health-care reform gathered around the country, including in Austin, TX, where 2,000 people crowded into a downtown church to hear speakers talk about different aspects of the issue. Asked to speak about the ethical dimensions of health care, I tried to go beyond short-term political strategizing and ask more basic questions. This is an edited version of what I said. Is anyone else here having trouble with the fact that we are even having this conversation? Is anyone else having trouble believing this topic is really controversial? I have been asked to talk about the ethical dimension of health care. Here's one way to frame such a discussion: If an infant is born to poor parents, would we be more ethical to give medicine to that child so he or she does not die prematurely of preventable diseases, or would we be more ethical if we let the child die screaming in his or her parent's arms so we can keep more of our money? Or, let's say someone who worked for Enron, and now is penniless, contracted bone cancer. I've been asked to discuss whether we are more ethical if we provide such people medicine that lessens their pain. Or would we be more ethical to let them scream through the night in unbearable agony so we can pay lower taxes? I can't believe I am standing today in a Christian church defending the proposition that we should lessen the suffering of those who cannot afford health care in an economic system that often treats the poor as prey for the rich. I cannot believe there are Christians around this nation who are shouting that message down and waving guns in the air because they don't want to hear it. But I learned along time ago that churches are strange places; charity is fine, but speaking of justice is heresy in many churches. The late Brazilian bishop Dom Hélder Câmara said it well: "When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a Communist." Too often today in the United States, if you talk about helping the poor, they call you Christian, but if you actually try to do something to help the poor, they call you a socialist. Some of the other speakers today have been asked to address what is possible in the current political climate. I have been asked to speak of our dreams. Let me ask a question. How many of you get really excited about tweaking the insurance system so we just get robbed a little less? (silence) How many of you want universal health care? (sustained applause) I realize that insurance reform is all that's on the table right now, and it can be important to choose the lesser of evils when that alone is within our power in the moment. But we also need to remember our dream. I believe the American dream is not about material success, not about being having the strongest military. The American dream is that every person might have a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It's amazing to hear Christians who talk about the right to life as though it ends at birth. They believe every egg has a right to hatch, but as soon as you're born, it's dog eat dog. We may disagree on when life begins, but if the right to life means anything it means that every person (anyone who has finished the gestation period) has a right to life. And if there is a right to life there must be a right to the necessities of life. Like health care. I believe the American dream was not about property rights, but human rights. Consider the words of this national hymn: "O beautiful for patriot's dream that sees beyond the years. Thine alabaster cities gleam, undimmed by human tears." Doesn't that sound like someone cared about the poor? There are those who consider paying taxes an affront, but listen to these words: "O Beautiful for heroes proved in liberating strife, who more than self their country loved and mercy more than life." "Mercy more than life" -- have you ever noticed those words before? Supporting universal health care does not make you socialist or even a liberal, it makes you a human being. And it makes you an ambassador for the American dream which, in the mind of Thomas Paine, was a dream for every human being, not just Americans. As we struggle to get health care to all people, we may have to settle for the lesser of two evils, but remember your dream -- the true American dream, a human dream. Whatever we win through reform is just first step toward a day when every human being has a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The Rev. Jim Rigby is pastor of St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church in Austin. He can be reached at jrigby0000@aol.com.

I have been uninsured since 2006.  I have been denied coverage because of Crohn's Disease. Something I have no power over, now has power over me.  The disease has caused anemia, eating disorders, loss of work, medical bills, pain, and my least favorite, mental anguish.  Sometimes I can't help but just cry.  I pray and wish for help everytime I look up at the stars.  I wish to be healthy enough to bare children.  I wish for no more pain.  I don't want to be a statistic, I want to live!  Something has to change!

Do not give up your original promise of Health Care for all. Money is being touted as a huge issue to defeat your original view of health care.  But, I ask, wouldn't we pay more as a nation if everyone without health care relied on emergency room visits???  My own health care is taken care of, for now at least.  So, I am encouraging a step which I really do not understand the possible repercussions of--because you have not clearly delineated them. But, those who talk about government becoming a middle man--well, I have more trust in the government than in the current batch of insurance companys doing the same thing.  Wouldn't we do better having officials who would not benefit so much financially being somehow in the middle than those whose only interest is getting enough money for their heirs and for there current 'good life,' OR, just because they enjoy the game of making more and more money??? There must be a way to use rhetoric, in its best form: as a means of education/persuasion to those who really do not know the details of your plan (I am one) and are still open to your guidance (mostly because the opposition has sought the bottom of the barrel when speaking to us humans as if we were cave men in spirit: ie. they are appealing to our basest instincts). The single payer option seems like it could be best.  I do use medicare and it works for me very well. Thank you, M Kuhl