The Voices

Real People, Real Stories

(submit your own)
Anna Crawford's picture

Young and Hopeless

By Anna Crawford
February 21st, 2006

I stay at home with my daughter now, and although my husband makes the average American income (40,000) - we still can't afford insurance. We don't have cable, have basic internet for my schooling, and are very frugal people. If we did have insurance, we couldn't pay for our medical bills. more »

Andrea Young's picture

Pre-Existing Condition

By Andrea Young
December 5th, 2005

13 years ago I was fully covered by health insurance in California. I moved to Washington with a new job, not a single day of unemployment. I then got another insurance plan. Then about 6 weeks later I found out that I was pregnant. The current health plan said pre-existing condition. more »

Richard Baker's picture

Deductable Rules Our Operation

By Richard Baker
March 23rd, 2005

Last year I was diagnosed with a rotator cuff injury and scheduled for surgery. The deductable was prohibitive for us so I had to decline the surgery and wait a year until I can get on Medicare, meanwhile hoping my shoulder would not deteriorate beyond repair. more »

Susan Faust's picture

Health Care System Should be Bush's Priority

By Susan Faust
March 23rd, 2005

We are an upper income family, and we are being told to expect our health insurance premiums to increase 65-85% EVERY YEAR. My husband's business is forced to shop carriers annually, causing disruption and distress to all employees. The hourly workers want to drop their insurance altogether -- increasing the burden on our public hospitals. more »

More Stories

Quotable Quotes

The Progressive Vision for Healthcare

- Senator Edward Kennedy
Submitted by Tracy Huang
January 14th, 2008
"An essential part of our progressive vision is an America where no citizen of any age fears the cost of health "

   12 January 2005 Source

Robert L. Borosage, Robert Loper et al. Straight Talk: Common Sense for the Common Good. http://ourfuture.org/straighttalk.

Instead of Funding Universal Healthcare, Dollars Become Insurance Company Profits

- Congressman Dennis Kucinich
Submitted by Tracy Huang
January 14th, 2008
"We’re already paying for universal coverage. We’re just not getting it. We’re pouring a large portion of every health care dollar into the waste of the private insurance companies, their executive salaries and stock options, their lobbying and advertising."

    Source

Robert L. Borosage, Robert Loper et al. Straight Talk: Common Sense for the Common Good. http://ourfuture.org/straighttalk.

Americans Deserve Better Healthcare and Results from Washington

- Reverend Jesse Jackson
Submitted by Tracy Huang
January 14th, 2008
"This is a program written by and for the insurance companies and the drug companies by Bush political appointees and GOP legislators...[It] shovels billions in subsidies to the insurance companies…[But] seniors are paying the price in confusion, catastrophic drug cutoffs and escalating drug prices."

   4 January 2006 Source

Robert L. Borosage, Robert Loper et al. Straight Talk: Common Sense for the Common Good. http://ourfuture.org/straighttalk.

Spitzer on Children's Healthcare

- Governor Elliot Spitzer - New York
Submitted by Chris Rasmussen
November 7th, 2007
""To deny coverage to these children is not only morally wrong, it is profoundly bad public policy. Denying children health coverage during their formative years leaves them far more vulnerable to preventable diseases, which costs patients, government and taxpayers far more to treat in the future... "

   
More Quotable Quotes

Progressive Opinion

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OurFuture.org Staff's picture

The Return of the Granny Bashers: More Attacks on Social Security and Medicare

By Dean Baker
From truthout.org
May 6th, 2008
Related Topics:
Submitted by OurFuture.org Staff

truthout.org — If health care costs in the United States were brought in line with costs in other wealthy countries then we would not be looking at scary budget projections 20 or 30 years down the road. This suggests the urgency of fixing the U.S. health care system. Health care reform is not only necessary to extend health care coverage to the uninsured, it is also essential for preventing our health care system from strangling the economy. Reform will require overcoming the opposition of extremely powerful lobbies, such as the pharmaceutical and insurance industries, but there really is no alternative.

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OurFuture.org Staff's picture

Battered by Health Insurance

By Elizabeth Warren
From tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com
May 2nd, 2008
Related Topics:
Submitted by OurFuture.org Staff

tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com — For families hit with medical bills they cannot pay, the current health care system magnifies their pain. But even those who have health insurance and can afford to pay are knocked around in a broken system.

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Frank ODonnell's picture

No lung left behind

By Frank O'Donnell
May 1st, 2008

What we can learn from the American Lung Association’s “State of the Air” report

It has become part of the rites of Spring, along with television’s May “sweeps,” the Kentucky Derby, and Cinco de Mayo. more »

OurFuture.org Staff's picture

Why John McCain Wants You To Give Up Your Health Insurance

By Ezra Klein
From prospect.org
April 30th, 2008
Related Topics:
Submitted by OurFuture.org Staff

prospect.org — The McCain Agenda: McCain believes that Americans use too much health care, and he has created a plan that will make care less affordable so millions of Americans will use less.

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OurFuture.org Staff's picture

McCain’s Health Care Plan: Increases Taxes, Decreases Coverage

By Seth Michaels
From blog.aflcio.org
April 30th, 2008
Related Topics:
Submitted by OurFuture.org Staff

blog.aflcio.org — McCain would tax health care benefits as income and push more people out of group insurance pools and into the often-predatory private market. In short, McCain would increase our taxes and ensure fewer of us could afford quality health care.

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