Kathleen had a kidney transplant in March of 2007 leaving her with outrageous perscription bills for the rest of her life.
Two forms of insurance were required for the transplant, which she had:  Medicare ESRD and Antham Blue Cross.

The problem is, if she doesn't stay employed, the prescriptions to maintain the kidney would bankrupt her. She has
been unemployed for 4 months, using an 18 month cobra.

Her concern is for the future. Kathleen believes age is truly a factor in obtaining employment, whether it is voiced or not.

She began with insurance in a very small group, but ended up having insurance in a large group. The small group began at $295.00 per person, and ended up, in a large part, because of her medical costs, costing the
employees $755.00 per month.

If a plan was not based on individual groups, but on a nation-wide pool, we could all pay more evenly and hopefully,
individual insurance, as well as group, would not be so costly.  At the current time, Kathleen is completely uninsurable,when Cobra runs out if she is not  part of a group. She fears that even with some new plans, the insurance could cost as much as the prescriptions, not solving any of her financial issues.

Gina's son is a cancer survivor. When he was first diagnosed and going through treatments, she had a hard time finding an anesthesiologist that accepted her health insurance. She felt very limited under this plan. Luckily, they were able to find someone and it wasn't a big issue, but it very easily could have been.  It's especially difficult to cope with tough circumstances when you're on a budget.  Gina knows that even an extra $40 for better health care would have be too expensive.

Angela was with the Culinary Union and had good health care. While she was covered by that health care plan, her children were hit by a semi-truck, and their bills were covered. However, when Angela left the union the health insurance company  retracted their payments. Angela works part-time as a waitress for minimum wage and now her daughter has a ruptured appendix. She has no idea how much insurance will pay and how much she will have to pay. Angela thinks that it would just be nice to know that her health care bills would be affordable.

Laura is a senior citizen and opted for Senior Dimensions because she didn't want to handle a lot of paperwork. She thought it was a good plan until Medicare Part D was introduced. She found out that she would have to pay $5 a month for a medication plan that she wouldn't use. She called to cancel this plan that she hadn't signed up for, and the canceled Senior Dimensions as well. She had had two x-rays while under Senior Dimensions costing $50 each. When Senior Dimensions was cancelled, they took back that payment, leaving her with the bill of $100. However, when she had Medicare pay for the x-rays the total cost for both under that plan was $27. Laura believes that we need need a better system in this country, something cost-effective to replace crooked insurance companies.

Glenda has two children in college, and she worries about their access to health care. Luckily, she is able to pay for their coverage while they are in school, but their COBRA benefits cost $922 a month. And after they leave school, what then? Glenda is worried that they won't be able to afford the care they need.