| Name | State |
| Gregory Boucher | MA |
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| Joanne Baker-Guerrette | CT |
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| PENNY & TOM CHAILLE | AZ |
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| Christian Caro | CA |
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| Angie Thomas | MO |
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| Mark Zimmer | OH |
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| Mark Zimmer | OH |
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| Martha Hawkins | CA |
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| Hawkins Tim | CA |
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| Sabrina Stanley | TX |
I emailed this petition to over 400 people today!!!
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| emily chestnut | GA |
The government needs to help take care of members of the USA. Some of us make a modest living and cannot afford healtcare. We should not have to give up big money just to maintain a quality of life.
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| kfir benyamin | NY |
this country should take care of us first before dealing with outside problems. everything here is business business business. people are making business off other peoples deaths. i think thats horrible that they can get away with murder legally. i sign this petition knowing in my heart that the people running this program including michael moore have only the best intentions to help out the needy. something which our government dosent do. i praise and honor all the people of this programs. God bless all of you.
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| Sarah Sherman | IA |
I thought America was a democracy. One would especially think this after we force our way into other countries and change their governments into a democracy. When people are scared of the government rather than the other way around, we are no longer living in a democracy. We have the right to fight and protest for what we want, we need to stand up to the government before they take way that right too.
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| Suzanne Delich | IN |
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| Barry Zimmer | OH |
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| Dallas Cox | GA |
Healthcare, for as long as I can remember, has been a hot-button issue for everybody, rich or poor. Medical expenses are through the roof. I can't afford to have any medical treatment because I don't have the right insurance or my insurance doesn't cover these types of things. Isn't it a right in the constitution for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? I think the government should help us in this pursuit because hospitals have gotten out of control.
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| Theresa Espana | OK |
This country should be a shamed of its self,the People who are running this country i do not know how they are able to sleep at night,,, all i can say is we as a people need to rise up and demand health care..............NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!! WE HAVE TO CARE SO PEOPLE WILL LIVE.....
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| Donald Martin | AZ |
As a practicing registered nurse I see that the system is not working. To divert a human moral issue in this country to distracting,nonsensical, irresponsible, political bantering while citizens die daily because of a broken system is criminal. If H.R. 676 didn't work we could always go back to the system that we have now that doesn't work. Lets get busy for America. Support and encourage the U.S. to be the model for the world....
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| robin wilson | NV |
We need immediate action, attention, awareness and
I am favor for members of Congress to pass HR 676.
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| Jeanne Eggleston | MN |
Enough already. No more excuses. Many of us simply desire a floor as part of our citizenship in the so-called successful county. That floor includes universal health care and quality free education.
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| Louisa Petrosillo | MD |
It is so terrible that so many people do not have health insurance. I consider myself very lucky that I have health insurance for my family.
With the expenses getting so ridiculous I feel that the government will have no choice but to give health care to those who are unemployed or cannot afford healthcare.
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| Michael Foster | AL |
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| Diana Grillo | AZ |
We need Universal Healthcare now.
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| colman manning | ME |
I support hr676 and I will not elect any rep. that will not get behind this cause.
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| Nancy Martin | AZ |
The majority of Americans want a universal, one-payer, national healthcare system. The majority of physicians also want one. We spend more money per capita on healthcare than any other nation, yet Americans rank 37th in health according to the World Health Org. More of us are uninsured or underinsured each year. We don't need band-aids like mandated insurance or tax incentives. We need a completely different system that is not based on profit. Please give HR 676 a chance. The people are ready for it -- and the people VOTE!
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| Lois Ross | OR |
I have a good friend in Italy who is an expert on public health care. And, believe me, she and other experts in first world countries think of the US system as a complete joke and a scandalous failure.
It is really pitiful, shocking and disheartening that our so-called leaders have allowed, over the many decades, our health care system in this country to be completely taken over by greedy, profit making insurance and pharmaceutical companies, all to the grave disadvantage of US citizens. It is an egregious violation of our very constitutional philosophy.
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| shannon gage | OR |
I wa not sure if I did this but, in case I did not.
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| William Wood | CA |
We must change now!
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| burritt lacy | KS |
The most unforgiveable deprivation for US citizens, while every other industrialized nation has had universal national health insurance for decades, enjoyed better health than Americans, and saved money.
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| Dona Hertel | OR |
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| EILEEN QUIGLEY | NY |
HI,
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
THIS BRINGS ME TO THE POLITICAL POW THAT I HAVE BECOME. IF BY THE REMOTE CHANCE WE GET ANY TYPE OF HEALTHCARE COVERAGE I PRAY THAT THE INSURANCE COMPANIES WILL HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT OUR GOVERNMENT WOULD HAVE US PAY FOR HEALTH CARE WHEN MOST PEOPLE CAN'T EVEN AFFORD GAS FOR THEIR CARS. SPEAKING OF CARS IS THAT THE SAME TYPE OF COMPANIES THAT ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR HOME OWNER ( REMEMBER HURRICANE KATRINA), CAR INSURANCE AND OH YEA ... UNITED HEALTHCARE?????? THESE SAME COMPANIES THAT HAVE BEEN LYING, FINANCIALLY RAPING, AND STEALING MONEY FROM PEOPLE LIKE ME ALL OF MY LIFE. HELP I AM BEING HELD HOSTAGE. THIS IS A WAR FOR HEALTH, SANITY AND THE VERY LIFE OF THE AMERICAN WORKING CLASS. I CAN'T TELL YOU HOW MY HEART BREAKS THAT I LIVE IN A COUNTRY THAT I LOVE SO MUCH AND IT CARES SO LITTLE FOR THE PEOPLE LIKE ME THAT LIVE HERE. BETTER GO. DYING AS A POW IN AMERICA,
EILEEN QUIGLEY,
315 564 7082
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| Wilma Ralls | CA |
Not only do we need NOT-FOR-PROFIT Healthcare for all, we need a healthcare system that respects patients' rights to pursue alternative, wholistic healthcare not currently allowed under our current Medicare/VA controlled health system. Our pharmaceutical corporations and the AMA have in the past forced into hiding many, many treatments that work in order to force patients to buy expensive pharmaceuticals instead. This has got to stop!
Another egregious problem is that many so-called unexplained illnesses are the result of our over-exposure to environmental toxins, chemicals and hormones introduced into our 'factory' produced food (also a problem for our healthcare system). In fact, our factory farms produce food that is depleted of nutrients because our soils are depleted and de-natured from the overuse of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. A recent study found that organic fruits and vegetables contain 30-35% more nutrients than factory-farm grown produce! Not to mention that our meats are DANGEROUS with their high levels of hormones and antibiotics, and the poorer quality of the protein produced by feeding animals grains and soybeans, while standing hip-to-hip in static positions in barns. Proteins from animals raised on pasture grasses, etc. are much better for us and don't contribute to things like 'mad cow disease.
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| Sara Utzschneider | ME |
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| Sherry Savoie | LA |
PASS HR 676, NOW!
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| Peter Collins | NC |
Four basic fundamentals for the well being of any country and it's citizens have to be Health, Education, Fiscal Prosperity and Defense.
Can these four principal be achieved in the wealthiest country in the world? I should think so!
How does the future President of the United States of America achieve these goals?
As a US citizen born and raised in The UK, I do have a first hand knowledge as to how a National Health System Works from a consumer's point of view. Basically, it is a philosophy of Collective Responsibility for All by All. This is achieved by each and every individual paying from gross, pre taxed earnings or benefits, into a National Health Insurance (stamp or tax) plan. US pundits would lead citizens to believe that this system does not work. However, how can U.S. citizens be expected to know otherwise if they have never experienced it's benefit. Big profits made on the backs of the sick is no way to achieve a viable health system, in fact, I should go so far as to say that this is criminal; do I need to discuss? Whilst it may be argued that there are long waiting lists for treatment under the National Health system in the UK, this point is generally cited for elective surgery, emergencies get dealt with right away and with no questions asked about how the patient is going to pay for this. The other basic fundamentals, Education, Fiscal Prosperity and Defense, I leave to you to work on but I trust that I have stimulated a different perspective for your consideration.
Sincerely and best of luck to you, our next President.
Peter Collins
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| Bettie Reina | NJ |
How humiliating that this great land of ours can not provide healthcare for all of our people. We can and we must do better. Please not only support HR676 but work to educate all members of Congress to their need to also suppport HR676.
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| Andy Brodie | IA |
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| Megan Emmerich | CO |
As a nurse specializing in long-term care, and as a consumer of health care, I believe that the current system is much too highly focused on maintaining profit levels for insurance companies rather than providing quality care. Our system requires far too much paperwork (and employment of clerical workers) to manage the many documentation demands of insurers. I believe a single payor plan is the only way to put resources into providing care instead of justifying the need for care to insurers.
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| Ellen Barr | NH |
We need quality affordable healthcare for all. It cannot be tied to employment (leaves millions out) and must be taken out of the hands of profit driven insurance companies who only want healthy subscribers.
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| Lee Kandlbinder | MA |
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| Christopher Rhodes | CA |
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| Brian Agosta | MA |
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| Anna Almquist | NJ |
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| Mary Arnott | WA |
Pass HR 676!!!
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| Barbara McCarthy | NY |
I have been a nurse for 25 years--a soldier on the front-line of health care. If health care had been an actual war, we would have lost long ago. Stop the bleeding, we need universal health care now. The people with mild to moderate illnesses now without health care will be our biggest expense later. It's similar to hearing a "funny noise" in your car and ignoring it. Weeks later you find out that the funny noise you IGNORED is your transmission. A heart, a kidney, a lung, etc. cannot be replaced as easily as a transmission, maybe not at all. And certainly a human life can never be. Why wait until the noise becomes a big problem? Even if you don't care about the human being with the problem, isn't financially wiser to help a person before their illness gets out of control.
You don't have to be a good Samaritan to want universal health care, just a wise economist!
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| Roy Knudson | SD |
I have been a selfemployed farmer so have had to buy my own insurance forever. I quit farming and could not get a full time job with benefits and I believe it is because no one wants older workers on their plan. I can only get part time jobs and still have to buy my own insurance and I know when I turn 60 in December I will go through the roof. Something has to be done or we will all be broke.
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| Lisa Houck | VA |
As a pharmacist and independent community pharmacy owner, I have watched throughout my career of 22 years as the healthcare costs have soared. I know that as my generation (I'm at the tail end of the baby-boomers) age, Medicare as it presently exists will not work. The system needs reform. We spend entirely too much time, energy and money negotiating the myriad of rules, formularies and hassles the greedy insurance companies make us as healthcare providers go through to do our jobs. A single payer system would go a long way towards being able to afford healthcare for all.
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| Jennae Dungan | PA |
I am a student of CCAC on the Northside and I had rented Sicko from the library here. Once I seen it I loved it. The way France, Great Britain, Canada and even Cuba has free Healthcare....it's unbelievable! I think Micheal Moore may help us young bucks start a REVOLUTION that has been well on its way. We need many leaders and some of these young kids just know how to follow, so, Micheal Moore thanx again for these movies....without you we would not know any of these things.
-Jennae L. Dungan
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| Lisa Whelan | CA |
I strongly support single-payer healthcare. Our healthcare premiums continue to rise year after year and the level of care offered declines. It's time to try out what most other industrialized countries already offer to their citizens.
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| len dusold | PA |
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| Richard Paley, MD | FL |
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| Janet Baker | NY |
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| Tina Greer | PA |
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| Kim Ryan | TX |
As an RN in an understaffed, overcrowded county hospital, I see the need for universal health care for all. I have spent my nursing career working in hospitals that provide care for all comers by choice. Now it is time to show the rest of the world what we stand for and what kind of society we are. Please be human 1st.
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| Judy Madnick | FL |
All Americans deserve to have access to appropriate health care. That health care should not be controlled by our employers or insurance companies. It's pathetic that the United States ranks so low in many areas of health care.
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| anna lizarraga-jensen | CA |
i believe this bill will make the strongest difference in our country. with healthy happy people across the country we can acomplish anything. remembering those who are sick and unable to recieve the care one can give makes our country helpless. we are suppose to be a country of freedom. where every vote counts. well, here i am. I VOTE FOR HR 676. believe in a healthier tomorrow for as of now some won't make it till then.
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| Giana Storck | IL |
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| Rasha AlMahroos | NY |
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| Ann Beatty | KY |
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| Kathleen Strattan | PA |
Thank you for your time and commitment to this.
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| Jennifer Cyphers | CA |
We are American *CITIZENS* not "CONSUMERS"!!!
Universal Health Care for all U.S. citizens!
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| Robert Dunbar | MD |
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| BILL RIPPON | WA |
PLEASE PASS HR 676!
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| Mark Heffington | NC |
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| Sabrina Smith | MI |
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| Jennifer Dutiel | AL |
It is wrong that people are choosing between food and medicine. It is wrong that people are delaying seeing their physician because of the cost. It's possible for us to have everyone covered with a good policy (better than what many of us currently have). So why aren't we? This is a human right's issue. Do the right thing. Offer the American people what congress has or devise a single-payer system. Do something because it's destroying a lot of us.
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| Cynthia Wheeler | AZ |
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| jeannine thibault | NY |
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| Richard Rever | IL |
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| Yolanda Richmond | NC |
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| Susan Grouse | GA |
I am a widow of a Army Veteran i am 61 and i have heart palpatations which i see a Doctor for, and it is hard to pay the fees, i have no insurance and can't get on medicare, because i'm not 65 blind or disabled, which i think i am because when i worked and my heart started racing i had to sit down or lay down, being on my feet hurt, i wish i could get on medicare to help pay for the doctor
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| John Scarsella | FL |
I support the above mentioned petition for health insurance. The current status of our health care system is deplorable. The United States has a duty, obligation and responsibility to provide quality health care. The difficulty in accessing health care facilities and providers, coordination of care and quality is necessary. The sky rocketing costs of health insurance is detrimental. The red flagging of those with pre-existing conditions, exclusions and limitations is absolutely wrong. All insurance companies and corporations should treat all patients with equality, equity and farirness.
I urge our legislators and the professional health care organizations to assert pressure on this vital issue. Our Nations health is at stake. We must act before it is too late.
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| Denise Mathews | VA |
I saw the movie "Sicko" and am sort of living it myself. My son and I had cancer and we are now paying several hundred "a month" on what the insurance wouldn't pay. I want to be able to see the doctor without fear over how much it will cost. I understand this would somehow be cheaper.
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| Patricia Gifford Bruner | CO |
It is time for our country to join the ranks of the civilized world, it is inexcusable for the United States to be ranked 37th in the world for health care coverage. Decent health care should be a basic human right, not a privilege. I urge the Congress to take decisive action, the number of Americans who stand to lose everything in the event of a medical emergency, grows every day.
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| Margaret Kramer | MN |
Please help solve the two crippling problems in health care today: Failing to provide everyone with access to comprehensive health care services and failing to make that health care affordable for each individual with needs.
None of the three major presidential candidates are standing up for single payer health plans!! Please, I ask you in Congress to go forward with this plan that is so desperately needed. Thank you.
Margaret Kramer
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| Margaret Kramer | MN |
Please act to solve the two crippling health care problems: failing to provide everyone with access to comprehensive health care services and failing to make that health care affordable for each individual with needs.
Our three presidential candidates have not pledged themselves to support the single payer health plan as supported by 59% of physicians. Please do your part in Congress. Thank you much!
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| Jackie Shandra | CO |
Universal Health Care Now!!!!
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| Robert McMahon | PA |
As a union officer, I'm tired of wasting precious negotiating time haggling over premiums and co-pays, when I know my union brothers and sisters in Canada don't have to do this because they get free healthcare from the government! As a parent, I'm tired of telling the insurance company over and over again that my 19-year-old daughter is still eligible because she's a full-time student, and I'm tired of worrying that if she decides to take a break from college she loses her health coverage. Healthcare is a right of all people, and it's time the U.S. caught up with the rest of the world!
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| Eliza Carney | CO |
Right on!! THank you! As Barbara Ehrenreich has written (http://www.alternet.org/healthwellness/63352/)
"After facing down the Third Reich, the Japanese Empire, the U.S.S.R., Saddam Hussein, the United States has met an enemy it dares not confront--the American private health insurance industry." The US "system" of healthcare is responsible for at least 18,000 American deaths every year. Doesn't that qualify for terrorism?
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| selva millheiser | CA |
In a country where a presidential campaign can raise 20 million dollars in two days, we can't don't give a crap about feeding the hungry or getting healthcare for the sick. There's something very wrong with this picture. Europe and other countries around the world are putting us to shame. Healthcare NOW!!
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| james ELDER | FL |
The time is now to stop the cruel and inhumane actions of the health care insurers!! Listen to your constiuents . support HR 676
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| Jody Whetzel | FL |
Healthcare NOT warfare!
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| Scott Whetzel | FL |
Healthcare NOT warfare!
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| Michele Goggins | MD |
The SICKO movie was INCREDULUS! So much of what I've always thought was conveyed in that movie.
You are using your power for the good Michael Moore. May you always continue to garner the strength to do so.
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| Jay Heyman | AL |
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| Diane Mohney | PA |
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| Mona Wolters | FL |
I have been all for this free health care and any way we can help our citizens to have a much better life. Do you know what a worry and stress it is when people can't afford to get medical issues taken care of? Many times they can't get the medications they need due to the overly expensive cost of the pharmaceutical companies. We must help the poor and the low to middle class.
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| Felicia Woodford | VA |
I'm sick of getting sick and just staying home and hoping for the best. I had a stomach bug a while back that was 4 days of sickness. I was so weak I was sure I'd be found dead. Had an ear infection needed treatment, but its to expensive if you don't have insurance, and to complicated if you do. Have blood pressure issues hope I don't die. We need health care for all. The big insurance and drug companies have lived to high for to long.
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| CHAMBOLLE-TOURNON Philippe | AL |
I'm french people, so I cant indicate my state. However I hope this sustain will count. Thank you Michael for your very "good job", and that people bless America.
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| Jonathan Haasl | WI |
America is the only industrialized nation with no form of universal health care. We also spend much more per year on our current health care system. Connection? It's about time we start acting like a nation which leads the world should. Take care of our own people.
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| Teresa Dummitt | OH |
This is what we need in ohio an insurance for everyone. We shouldn't have to pay high premiums/copays deductibles.
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| Thomas Goswitz | OR |
My fiancee and I go to work everyday and break our backs. Our employer offers no health benifits
so we have lived without health insurance for a long time and we can deal with that.Our one year old son and five year old daughter cannot though.
Our son Jimi was born 7 weeks early and had to stay in the NICU for 7 additional weeks and it was very hard.He made it out okay and is growing into a big strong boy.The state of Oregon has decided to cut his medical coverage now that he is a year old and that is simply unethical and wrong.They say we make too much money.So now if my son gets so much as a cold we're gonna have to take him to the ER and pay an astronomical amount of money.This system is flawed and it needs to be changed immediately!!!!
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| Emily Cleath | PA |
Health care is a human right. Why is Congress letting insurance companies, drugmakers, and the AMA take it away from us?
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| Travis Poelle | NY |
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| David Sharp | CA |
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| Micah Moss | OR |
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| Robert Kershaw | NY |
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| David Kirley | NY |
My wife Wendy has MS nad we can not afford the co-pays the medicare part D prescripition drug plan wants. I will have to come up with $4,600 plus my regular $250/mmth premimums, and another $1000.oo out of pocket during the "doughnet hole" effect. This is absolutely riducluous. Is this the type of country our young people are dying for?
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| Abby Klein | CT |
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| Carlos Deras | CA |
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| Michael Johnson | UT |
There needs to be healthcare reform. Regulate the cost that insurances charge, hospitals charge, Prescription costs. It is out of control. Pay nurses what they are worth.
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| Johnny Preston | SC |
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| Patricia Magyar | TN |
I am an adjunct professor (teacher) that cannot afford health insurance. I am currently looking for a position outside academia that will allow me to afford insurance. I am so sad that my teaching career may be over.
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| L Mander | NY |
If you have a conscience, you support HR676.
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| Jason Tucker | NY |
We're sorely behind in health care in comparison to every other industrialized nation. No one should have to declare bankruptcy due to healthcare.
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| joany johnson | TN |
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| Brett Marcum | KY |
I am for offering any solution that offers universal coverage for all Americans, and not giving the top notch care that the socially elite get to the the socially elite only. The same level of health care for the young, old, black,white, rich or poor it should not matter we all deserve the same treatment regardless of our social status. I am totally sick of the rich and powerful in this country getting all of the great things this country has to offer while the rest of us get shit on by a system who is biased toward the wealthy.
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| Nancy Garcia | TX |
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| shirlee andonian | FL |
I AM A WIDOW & RECEIVE ONLY A VERY SMALL MONTHLY WIDOW'S BENEFITS CHECK ($479.00)..I HAVE MEDICARE A BUT CANNOT AFFORD THE PREMIUM FOR MEDICARE B & CANNOT RECEIVE ANY ASSISTANCE BECAUSE I HAVE SLIGHTLY MORE IN RESOURCES THAN ALLOWED! BUT I HAVE NO LIFE INSURANCE SO THIS RESOURCE IS FOR MY BURIAL EXPENSES !
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| Windell Nabors | TX |
The following is part of a speech I am giving today on behalf of my sister Shelley, and Bill H.R. 676. It is my Final Speech assignment, and one very close to my heart....
My sister Shelley had to have open-heart surgery
to replace a mitral heart valve at age 31.
After the surgery, the doctors told her that she couldn’t work anymore. They offered to give her whatever documentation she needed to apply for disability and Medicare, and they did. She tried desperately for ten long years to get approved for disability and Medicare. Each year she would apply, and each year she’d be turned down. It wasn’t the money she was after so much as it was the medical assistance.
A few years after her heart surgery, Shelley learned that she’d developed liver disease.
In the beginning her prognosis for remission was good. She was told that if she got the interferon treatments she needed for her liver disease that it would most likely go into remission and she’d be able to live a long life as far as her liver went. So she knew all along that without the needed treatments, she was going to die. At 9:30 am on May 9th of last year, Shelley finally got that long awaited phone call telling her she’d been approved for disability, and Medicare benefits. I was the one who answered the phone and got the news. It was like a knife in my heart, for my precious baby sister had died that very morning two hours earlier.
All I could do was stand there in her living room, holding the phone in disbelief while I stared at her frail little body waiting to be picked up by the funeral home. I thanked the person for the call, but said that it looked like the government didn't have to help my sister after all.
How many of you know someone who doesn’t have health insurance?
Personally, I can’t afford it. Even though I’m an unemployed, full-time college student who is raising four children, I don’t qualify for medical assistance because I receive an income of $250.00 per month in child support. I am grateful however that my three grandchildren, and nephew are covered by Medicaid. One of my greatest fears is that I will become critically ill before I graduate from school and get a job with good medical benefits.
According to the American Medical Association’s website which was last updated March 18th of this year, more than 47 million Americans are uninsured. A large majority come from working households, and sadly quite a few are children.
Here in America, with all it’s vast resources and medical technology, folks are dying everyday that don’t have to, but do because they lack health insurance and cannot afford proper medical care. Senator Ted Kennedy of Mass. said on the CNN program “Broken Government” which I watched this past Saturday night, that the state of American healthcare is "immoral”.
Also on the program, The World Health Organization, reported that France has the best healthcare system in the world. The avg French citizen pays $146.00 p/ month for family health insurance, and that figure varies depending on a person’s income level. Lower income families pay less than that, while individuals with chronic diseases pay nothing at all.
America needs to adopt a universal healthcare system such as that which will give all Americans a fair chance to fight illness and disease. No one should die because they can’t afford insurance, and access to proper medical care.
In fact, there is a bill before the senate right now entitled “Bill H.R. 676” which would
guarantee, by law, healthcare for all Americans regardless of their employment, income, or healthcare status. No longer would those with pre-existing conditions be denied proper care because of the severity of their health problems.
What a shame it is to know that our government spends billions of dollars each year on military defense budgets to protect us from war, and yet hundreds of thousands of Americans die each year because they aren’t protected from illness and disease.
A study reported to MSNBC.com on Jan. 8th shows that France, Japan, and Austrailia rated best, while the United States rated the worst regarding preventable deaths. An estimated 101,000 people die from preventable deaths each year in America.
Unfortunately, last year, Shelley was one of them. She was only 41 when she died.
Shelley loved life. She fought valiantly to live as long as she could despite the many health problems she lived with everyday because she couldn’t afford the medicine which would have made her life easier, and more pain-free. What hurt her the most, was knowing she’d never see her grandchildren grow up here on earth, or be there for her two daughters and son when they needed her. I took care of her those last couple of weeks. In the days leading up to her death, Shelley planned her own meager funeral. Never once did she curse God, or our government for refusing to give her medical assistance. She was so brave and courageous. One memory that will haunt me to the day I die is of her explaining to her beloved grandson that she would be leaving soon to go and live with Jesus. She reminded him of the conversation they’d had previously, and told him that Jesus might come for her any time now. She wanted him to be a brave boy and grow up strong. In his five year old wisdom he said, "But Nana, you won't get to see me finish this school year..." Shelley bit her lip, and told him that "Oh yes I will... Even though you won't be able to see me, I'll be up in Heaven watching you on your Graduation Day, and for that matter I'll be watching you grow up to be a man, so be good and always remember how much Nana loves you!"
God forbid any of you should have to watch someone you love die, knowing that lack of health insurance and proper medical care killed them as much as the disease itself.
I’ve printed out some information on Bill H.R. 676, also known as the United
States National Health Insurance Act. It came from the Healthcare-now.org website.
As you can see from these links, there are many ways to get involved and help pass this bill in Congress.
Most importantly, I hope you’ll click on the link and sign the petition to have this important bill passed. You can not only sign it, but add your two cents worth to it as well.
We all must act now before more Americans like Shelley, perhaps even someone you love, has to die because they couldn’t afford to live.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
To those who have the power to pass this bill I beg of you to PLEASE, Please pass this bill!!!
I don't want to ever have to watch another person I love die because they couldn't afford to live!!!
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| Genoveva Perez Placencia | CA |
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| Dr. Mary Meadows | AZ |
The current health care system and insurance industry needs reform NOW!!!! It is corrupt and too many people have already suffered by greedy insurance companies.
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| Alejandra Soto | TX |
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| Susan Hass | WI |
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| Jesse Pack | MA |
We need to join the rest of the industrialized world and demand quality health care and a single-payer system!
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| tom cowern | NH |
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| Tamara Kipp | NY |
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| carolyn bowers | TN |
i think everyone who i a U.S. citizen is entitled to this proposed insurance coverge.
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| Ashley Meiners | LA |
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| Eric Hanson | MN |
A decent health care system would definitely help the US. What we have now is obviously not working.
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| Meg OReilly | MN |
It's pathetic that America, the most wealth driven country in the world, can't get figure out a system in which ALL people are insured. I'm an RN and a teacher and don't have health insurance...that's pathetic. Maybe if there was more time spent in government agencies on figuring out health care, insurance and education, and less time trying to fight to form a democracy off the US soil, the great old USA may move closer to the top of the list of having a great health care system and literally, no child left behind. What has happened to the priorities?? Oh wait...it's all driven by money, isn't it? Again, it's pathetic! Self serving RICH companies have no remorse either...again, pathetic!
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| Silvija Alksnitis | MA |
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| steven Reed | AK |
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| Noa Mati | NY |
This is such a wonderful country but unfortunately there are too many not so wonderful people that have the control over this country.
More than half of the people in this country are a sleep thinking that their govermant will take care of them. time to wake up! things got to start changing and moving in a better direction.
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| Rita Capolarello | NY |
We cannot claim to be civilized until we change from an indifferent society to one that cares for all.
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| Mary Fielding | MA |
Please pass HR 676 non-profit Medicare for all.
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| Russell Helgren | VA |
Most, if not all of you in Congress have no idea what it is like to have decisions made for you based on whether or not you have health insurance. You probably never debated whether or not to spend your last $50 on medicine or food or rent. It is time to take care of this most essential need for everyone and stop putting money in the pockets of the war machine.
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| Jeannine Suibielski | CA |
I am a 37-year-old self-employed cancer survivor, and no one will cover me. The coverage I can get would exclude anything cancer related so what's the point? I get to pay an insurance company $600 to $1,000 a month and not get any coverage for the one thing I need coverage for? That is crazy.
Single payer!
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| ChristY Max | CA |
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| Cee Zee | CA |
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| Jeffrie Bond | ID |
Simply put, if we don't have our health, or affordable health care, we have nothing. We can cut all the rhetoric away and the political candidate for President I will vote for is the candidate that supports HR676 because THAT is the candidate that realizes literally everything else...EVERYTHING...is of secondary importance to this issue. A life of living in fear is not freedom. And if we must live in fear of having our entire financial lives ruined in the event of a serious health issue, everything we have worked our entire lives to build, or living in fear we cannot acquire essential quality heath care in time of great need, we can never live a happy, joy-filled, FULfilled life. Terrorism wears many masks yet is not disguised. The terrorism inherent within this issue is as life-threatening as any other.
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| Allison Lentino | MA |
People who don't have health care don't have it because they can't afford it, NOT because they are not choosing it. Allowing a system that denies health care to everyone is cruel and shameful. America needs to get its priorities in order and start changing this now!
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| Joan Jennings | NC |
I have non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. I have just been informed that I must undergo another round of chemotherapy. Despite my physician's advice to leave my job for a medical leave of absence, I will continue to work. I need my health care insurance and disability will not cover my mortgage. I will probably die working. I am 54 years old.
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| Kyle Buck | NC |
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| Jessica Gessner | NY |
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| Carolina Giralt | FL |
My parents did a big sacrifice (as millions have done) to come live in the US with 4 children and leaving their immidiate families behind to give us a better future.They always told us this was the land of opportunities,civil rights,home of the free and the brave.My parents are olderMy father 65 has diabetes and an amputated leg,because the county hospital couldn't put him in the hyperbaric chamber because he had no insurance.Instead they performed 3 amputations ,starting by the toes.It's very difficult for them to swallow the HARSH truth about the healthcare system in this country thus admitting...you can't be SICK nor OLD to live here in the US.All the years of working overtime,2 and 3 jobs to make ends meet/NEVER applying for public assistance, paying SS and taxes to get a monthly DISABILITY check for $660!!! What has this country become!?I want to help change the system.
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| Susan Hammond | NY |
The only way we will get national health insurance/single payer/Medicare for all is to make it clear that we will NOT vote for any one that does not support, sponsor, and promote it. The only thing politicians fear more than loss of campaign funds from insurance companies is loss of votes at the ballot box. If all those who support single payor will do this and follow through, I guarantee you we will get it within a couple of election cycles. But it MUST be made a condition for getting our vote, not something we "pressure for" after the election - then it's too late!
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| Lois Bergeson | MT |
I would like Congress pass legislation that would provide free medical coverage to all Americans. All the other industrialized countries have some form of universal or single payer system for their health care, why don't we? Right now my insurance has a $10,000 per person, per year, deductible, and costs me $152 per month for myself and 3 children.(I make $8.50/hour - do the math, it's depressing) They cover nothing until the deductible is met. Nice if you loose an arm or leg, but otherwise, not so helpful. And as far as dental or vision - forget that, all my kids need dental work, but we can't afford it. Quit listening to Montana's former governor-turned insurance lobbyist and listen to the majority of the people who are telling you to get us some health care! You work for US, damn it, go get to work, or get fired!
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| Roxanne Zeto-Brennan | VA |
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| Sean O'Connor | CA |
I had private insurance, yet had problems finding doctors or hospitals who would take it due to their problems with the insurance company. My relatives in Germany don't have such problems! We should join the rest of the developed world.
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| Wieslawa Pavlo | FL |
I haven't health insurance for nine years, isn't that shame? Great country like USA is so cheap to not give people what they need and deserve. When I visit my family in Europe I'm ashame to admit that I can't aford dental and medical even when I'm working hard as a student(full time) and part time employee. I'm so sorry to come to this country and suffer like this. I'm thinking to move back to Europe.
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| Henry Peters | MI |
And investment in emphasis on wellness and PREVENTION are the only real long term means of sustaining health care. This includes taking care of our home, our planet and all life upon it.
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| k koger | MD |
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| Yogesh Sharma | MA |
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| Yogesh Sharma | MA |
Please do something to support healthcare for all.
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| Melissa Grcich | IN |
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| John M. Wages, Jr. | MS |
As a candidate for Congress in Mississippi's 1st District, I support national healthcare that (1) covers everyone, (2) is single-payer, (3) emphasizes preventive medicine, including education on diet and exercise, prenatal and neonatal care, and early detection of cancer and heart disease, and (4) achieves accountability through local control.
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| Theresa E. | OK |
universal health care NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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| Richard Farwell | AZ |
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| Mozelle Jacobs | TX |
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| Jeanine Cunnngham | WA |
I have a sister who's health has denegerated from diabetes and weight related issues. She had health insurance, but it wouldn't treat what really need to be treated, and now her health is so bad, she cannot work, which means she now has NO health care insurance. Suddenly, the state of Washington has now picked up her care with medical coupons, but she has NO INCOME. Does this make sense to you????
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| Anthony Swinehart | GA |
I will be moveing to S.C. soon
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| Daniel Hileman | PA |
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| Tatianna Peck | AL |
It seems only natural that citizens in this country be given access to efficient health services, no matter how poor or disadvantaged. By meeting the needs of our sick, we improve society.
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| David Penkala | WI |
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| HSIN-I LIN | WI |
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| Shiemier Munroe | CA |
I am praying that this bill passes ASAP!!!! This is a Human Need!!!! The road to happiness..The true meaning of an American Dream!
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| Timothy Espinosa | AZ |
Universal healthcare is more important than spending American lives and money on war!
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| Bill Ballis | TX |
Please pass HR 676 and make our country great again. A healthier country is a stronger country.
Thanks.
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| pete cerchiara | AZ |
Forcing citizens to buy insurance contracts is not a solution and Mass is an example of why it does not work. We need single payer universal health care. The insurance companies have failed to effectively manage the industry and have been the reason for the downfall and declining spiral we find ourselves. Forced insurance will only funnel more dollars to profit taking and corporate obscene compensation and not go to quality health care for all. Employers and citizens need to let their voices heard and look at their self interest. Funding and access is clearly out of balance and fair share and equity and balance needs to be brought into this market for all.
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| tanis fletcher | MA |
start somewhere-anywhere. It is all such a mess.
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| Jessie Hilliker | NY |
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| Steven Clark | IL |
I was wondering if this plan had been brought to other businesses to show the cost savings to them. I think if these companies were onboard with this program there influence would outweigh that of the insurance and drug companies. I think this should be a bigger issue in the upcoming election.
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| anthony ballog | MI |
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| Elizabeth Brewer | CA |
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| Kuanyu Chen | KS |
England, French, Canada, Taiwan...etc..all have universal healthy plan. They are not third world countries. They are developed countries and the least among them are all taken cared of when they are sick and ill. The proper balance of democracy and socialism should be emphasized. USA government uses Fear Factor and media to scare, manipulate, fool USA citizens not to think and challenge the corrupted bureaucracy and policy. In addition, the evil deeds of dirty money connection between politicians between medical / hospital / medical/ pharmaceutical / insurance enterprises ripped off majority of USA tax payers’ money (I know this is truth because my family members many are medical doctors. This is ugly dirt dirty truth all doctors in USA know and still act on.) The government told you the illegal immigrants are those to blame and shift your focus so no body will focus on government’s useless and disability of resolving the national universal healthy plan. Well, if the illegal immigrants are those to blame, then, ship all those illegal immigrants out or give them proper position in this country with proper name and identity registration records so they can START paying taxes like every one else and receive proper social service like every one else. USA has become such a selfish country and everything is ALL ABOUT ME, BUT NOT WE. The more selfish every one becomes, the more benefit the big enterprises get, but every single individual USA citizen are losing their tax paying money in big manner with ignorance and still being fooled by all the lies and happy with it. USA healthy/medical plans are solely for RICH and HEALTHY people. If you are POOR and SICK, be ready to die slowly with all your up-coming chronicle diseases without dignity and medical treatment, and YES, this happened, happens, and WILL continue to happen until the National Universal Healthy Plan is fully lunched in the favors and return to the simple root of humanity.
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| Tammy Zane | PA |
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| WaWaWa Crybabies | MD |
Get a job and pay for your own health care. What makes you think it's a right for me to pay for your healthcare.
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| linda sutton | DE |
pass hr676 !!!!!!!!!!
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| Yvette Wilkinson | FL |
I wish there was a way that we could vote on this issue nationally. I think a majority of Americans would prefer a single payer healthcare system.
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| Michaelia Graves | MS |
I believe in this bill 100%. Why does the United States stick to such a health care system when it's clearly not working? It makes health care available to the wealthy and not the poor. According to polls, a vast majority of citizens would like to see this bill enacted, so why hasn't it worked yet?
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| Raymond Geoghegan | NY |
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| Heather Hartel | NY |
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| Patricia Rojas | NY |
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| kristin bay | NH |
Without universal health care, illness comes down on every individual anyways. Let's make a program where a single stress in all of our lives can be removed, the fear of one's health.
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| Diana Brown | OR |
As a full-time student without affordable health insurance, I am embarrassed by the fact that my own country will not assist those who seek to better themselves in order to become productive members of their communities.
Please watch the film 'SICKO' by Michael Moore
It was a very eye opening and well written message of how America can choose to make the necessary changes in order for everyone to have health care.
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| Rob Richardson | IL |
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| Timothy DePetro | FL |
Please pass this plan. I have not had Health Insurance in a long time!
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| Yolanda Flores | GA |
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| Crystal O'Mata | TX |
Health care? everyone needs it! lets have a happier healthier country!
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| Helen Senseny | DE |
Started to do a project on Universal Healthcare for school. Single payer!!!!
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| RAMONA DE LA TORRE | CA |
Socialist ideals can be incorporated into our capatalist society. Why the heck don't we have universal healthcare? Stop selling out people to the Health Insurance companies and Pharmaceudacle companies. Healthcare is a right, not a priviledge. DO SOMETHING. PASS legislation that will allow healthcare coverage for anyone. AND I MEAN ANYONE. It's my freaking tax dollars, and that's how I want to use them. see u at the polls.
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| K D | IN |
I will vote for only those who indorse this bill.
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| Maureen Ruz | CA |
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| Anthony Moore | MI |
If you haven't seen the movie Sicko you absolutely must see it if you are an American citizen. It will make you embarrassed and ashamed to be an American especially in comparison to the rest of even the semi-industrialized world.
I have always been a proud American and have served my country in the Armed Forces and am now a white collar professional with Health Insurance, yet, my whole life I have completely hated our health care system. How can you possibly put a dollar figure on your health and well being? It has never made any sense to me and "we the people" need to take back control of our government and change how we treat and respect our fellow citizens. If you lived in a small tribal village would you ever allow a sick or injured person to go unattended? How is it than in a country as great as we are led to believe, that we can possibly allow these things to happen to people in our village? To any of us. Of any age, creed, race, class or political persuasion. And besides all that, a medical bill you cannot afford gives you bad credit? What the hell? Are we insane? Ths is madness and it has to stop and I will do anything I can to make it stop. Michael Moore has my utmost respect for bringing this topic to the masses in a way I only wish I could have done.
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| Jan Kelley | FL |
For shame that we can take care of people in other countries but we don't take care of our own.
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| Tony Short | IN |
UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT/is all about money how much they can make for them self.watch what ever the PRESIDENT is invested in that what going up,BUSH is in OIL so look whats going up .CLINTONS is in realestate was up.(WE AS IN THE PEOPLE SHOULD PROTEST ON THE STREETS). Any one going to bring this up about hillary clinton pay off on the campain debate.also watched clinton chronicles movie
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| Anthony Short | IN |
Schedule a big screen showing at or near the white house lawn.also need advertise.
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| Angela Sullivan | GA |
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| Greg Arnold | WA |
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| Don Harris | TX |
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| virginia ogborne | NJ |
If the VA can do what they do, they way they do it, then why can't we have Non Profit Medicare for a/k/a HR-676? Since 2001 when Aetna told me to "throw away your (and my mother's) Medicare card, citizens/patients and their families have been sold down the river by the U S. Government. Sicko was a great movie that told the real story.
Not only were we chucked into the hands of the Shark Insurance companies who gobbled us up like chum, they increased our copays and premiums!!! They have rewritten this years prescription manual twice and changed coverages twice and this is only April 2008!!!
I am willing to participate in a Revolution, if necessary, to correct this CANCER that is slowly devouring the poor and middle classes in this country.
Never stop!!!
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| Randi Sherman | PA |
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| Elizabeth O'Donnell | NY |
I am a 34 year old freelance worker in Manhattan. I make, in a good year, $50 to $60K. I pay $5K alone for health insurance that offers mediocre coverage.
My husband's union covers him, but has stopped offering coverage for spouses and children, regardless of the fact that he has paid into the union for 20 years.
We are now unable to have a child as we literally cannot afford to pay $10K out of pocket for health insurance for myself and for our child.
We are hard, honest workers who contribute very much to our community and our country and find it terribly sad that we cannot find a way to afford insurance for a child without changing our lifelong careers or moving to Ireland, which we have seriously considered.
Can we please, please find a way to provide basic care for all? I am providing a link to a New York Times article by my colleague Marci Alboher. It is a pretty comprehensive look at the state of the union for many.
The link will not post, but I strongly urge you to visit NYTIMES.COM and search for the article.
Sincerely,
Elizabeth O'Donnell
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| Lucia Bay | CA |
I think this is an important step to providing equality on our country.
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| Michael Jones | NY |
The recent story about the ridiculous prices for medicines for those suffering from some of the worst diseases upset me past the point I had been after watching Sicko, newscasts and reading other articles on the subject. It is time to take action. This is just the first step for me.
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| Sheila Harvey | NH |
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| melanie scott | AZ |
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| nathan scott | AZ |
free health care we all deserve it
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| Charlene Lange | WI |
In my opinion, America is inhumane, immoral, despicable and barbaric to allow thousands upon thousands of people to die every year. I know someone who couldn't have his heart operation because hs unemployment checks were $12 over the limit to qualify for GAMP, a program in Wisconsin. As soon as my daughter gets her degree in the medical field, she's leaving America to live in a nice country. She is so appalled. I wish I could get out of here too.
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| Kim Guynn | IL |
Please pass HR676
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| Elizabeth Lane | CO |
Can we organize a march on Washington!
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| Rhonda Carey | CO |
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| Jennifer Forbus | OR |
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| kathy Donegan | MA |
we can't wait, act now
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| Kelly Zientek | NJ |
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| Mark Auer | CT |
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| Erin Booth | IN |
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| John Johnson | PA |
i am currently uninsured so i know all of its effects. recently i had to have wisdom teeth removed so the gateway insurance i was covered by seemingly stalled until i turned 21. at that point i was dropped. my teeth are impacted severely and have no space to grow in, and theres nothing i can do nothing.i havent even seen a doctor since i was 16 and im 21 now.we wonder why theres so much crime...people are starving and dying and instincts say do whatever you have to eat and keep loved ones healthy .i work 40 hrs a week and go to college 3 days a week for a measly 8.5 an hr, just enough for rent.im a hard worker and the reason i go to school is to have a better oppertunity to survive and even then i will not be guaranteed a job but i will be guaranteed life long debt to the blood sucking loan companies.i think not only health but all insurance companies, gas exxon gas steeler are expoiting the less fortunate. look at all the money and who holds most of it and they say its cause they work hard....no they deny everyone else the oppertunity. Now im about world peice but all i see is talk so i think if we dont get this universal health for starters we need to do more than talk, simple as that. when the masses come together we are an unstoppable force,this is what needs to happen if talking doesnt work action will. i can go all day but i with cut it hear, whomever reads this just know that i am fully prepared to march speak join or whatever it takes to finnaly change things.
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| Samantha Koch | OR |
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| Anita Tippit | MO |
please don't let this die in subcommittee
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| Dan Harold | OR |
please let me know how I can help!!!
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| michael volgmann | WI |
free health care for all lets make it happen!!!!!!!!!
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| Tzeching Wang | CO |
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| destiny ofori | NM |
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| Roseann Davis | MI |
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| Timothy Wootten | CA |
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| Blenda George | FL |
Don't be afraid of the word "solialized". Lot's of things in the USA are socialized from highways to libraries.
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| LaShonda Spencer | TX |
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| Fred Nelson | KS |
Medicine for profit does not work. What is the Christian thing to do? As long as business majors are running hospitals, not doctors, we will not get the care that is needed. Government is the only thing that can change people from being taken to the cleaners from unscrupulous insurance companies.
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| Emily Torrence | IN |
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| Paul Bessinger | MI |
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| Mari Bessinger | MI |
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| John Gallegos | MI |
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| Michael Gallegos | MI |
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| Ann Carlton | MA |
Has to be done!
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| JESSICA DAVENPORT | TX |
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| Annette Kaune | IL |
My biggest fear is when my husband returns from serving in Iraq he will not have the appropriate health care. I have seen what a lack of health care and mental care can do to others. In June '08 I will no longer have health care and due to my 50,000 dollars of students loan, I am worried I will not be able to afford any care.
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| Keith Figgins | CA |
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| Joan Lederman | MA |
It's obvious that money spend administering insurance companies OR applications for subsidized care (as in Massachusetts) is money not given to provide health care. Can't we admit that this is unjustifiable, and can't we work together to create healthier less stressed people? The waste is tragic.
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| beatriz farmer | CA |
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| Kendra Kellogg | CO |
It is time for this country to address health care immediately. So many people want to live thriving, independent, and productive lives, but the current system holds them back. Let's make our country a community, embrace medical differences, and be the democracy that we stand for.
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| Tera Jones | MS |
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| Donna Collins | KY |
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| James Herald | IN |
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| Ann Cawley | MO |
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| Catherine Woods | TX |
After becoming aware of our failing health care system, but more especially, by becoming aware of how other countries cover their citizens, I feel that America should be ashamed of itself. Our elected officials have been slow to act and influenced by corporations. It is time for America to get universal health care and I will support candidates who support HR 676.
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| Dani and Chris Stanton | AL |
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| pamela grossman | NY |
| Health care is a basic right. Preventative care will save everyone money, not to mention helping to keep the populace safe and healty--but only if it i |
