I'm starting this petition to increase funding for mental health services and to increase awareness for the mentally ill who usually can't speak for themselves. I myself have a serious mental illness and I am an advocate for others who share my struggles. I cannot do this alone though so this petition is a way that I can get other people in my corner.

I have Avascular Necrosis secondary to Sickle Cell Anemia. Sickle Cell Anemia is an awful, life-threatening disease which causes frequent, painful, hemolytic crises. Sickle Cell Anemia will eventually cost me my physical life. AVN, in the meantime, is robbing me of everything else. Mutual sufferers of AVN around the country and the world need this disease to be understood. We need to be heard and validated. We need a cure. When? Now!!!

Family caregivers make the ultimate sacrifice in caring for loved ones. After years of caregiving, should they be thrown out in the street? Especially, older family caregivers approaching retirement or in retirement? Does it make sense to put caregivers in a Section 8 housing program, or to allow them to stay in the family home? Caregivers save the government billions of dollars a year in Medicaid costs. Do they deserve the punishment that Medicaid offers? This doesn't happen in Canada or other parts of the industrialized world. It only happens here, in America. It's time to stop this horrible Medicaid practice.

My mother has dementia, and the current laws are not protecting her civil right to Due Process. Judge Daneeka Cotton in the State of Maryland appointed a Guardian of Property and a Guardian of Person without allowing her the opportunity to testify on her own behalf. The Guardian of Property is now trying to sell all of her personal property, and the Guardian of Person, Prince Georges County Department of Aging, has confined her to a nursing home like a prisoner. My mother is not even afforded the opportunity to receive her mail.

The DONUT Hole has cost those on PLAN D with medicare (which is their PRESCRIPTION COVERAGE ) MILLIONS --- each that is in the donut hole can BE CAUSED to spend their retirement ...they often split pills or shorten dosages to TRY and make it to the end of the year as I have had to do . Over the past it has cost me over 1,500 dollars . It ends up in the wallets of WALL STREET !

I am a teacher, and like most teachers, a woman who has the South Carolina State Health Plan. Women are not being given the coverage we need/deserve for our annual visit to the gynecologist. Instead, we have to pay out of pocket $135 or more. The state health insurance plan does not cover a basic visit, let alone the additional services of checking for HPV, STD's, etc. This is an issue of basic human rights, which is sickening to me and needs to be changed ASAP.

I AM DESPERATE IN GETTING MY DISABILITY THAT I DESERVED. I AM 52 YEARS OLD. I HAVE WORKED ALL MY LIFE AND NOW THAT I NEED HELP, NO ONE WANTS TO HELP ME. I AM BEGGING FOR SOME ASSISTANTS WITH THE SOCIAL SECURITY OFFICE TO APPROVE MY APPEAL. IF IT WAS'NT FOR OBAMA CARE PROGRAM, THAN I WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO PAY FOR ALL OF MY MEDICAL EXPENSE'S. ONE MORE THING=== I COULD LOSE EVERY THING I WORK FOR, MY LAND AND BE OUT ON THE STREETS BECAUSE I CAN NOT WORK AND ONE THING THAT IS BIG=== NO ONE WOULD HIRE ME WITH MY DISABILITY ISSUES. .... " PLEASE HELP!! "" THANKS, FRANCES OSMON

I am Board Certified in Palliative and Hospice, and have seen the lack of care given to Veterans.

In 2008, Daniel Freeman Memorial Hospital closed. The South LA community lost its community hospital. The doctors, nurses, and therapists who worked there lost their jobs. We need more healthcare choices so that residents who have Covered California or MediCal can receive healthcare near where we live. We want healthcare vouchers that can be redeemed for healthcare from any licensed doctor, dentist, or therapist who practices in South LA.

One of the greatest loves of my life, my niece who I raised as my daughter, had a psychotic break June 2011. She stabbed me and killed herself. We never saw this coming!!! I started a national non-profit, Mental Health In The African American Community, Inc. We are a 501c3 agency. We need funds to execute our grassroots mental health programs. Please release federal funds so we can save lives and enhance lives in the African American Community. America is experiencing a major mental illness epidemic in the African American Community. We must remove the stigma and break the chains of silence of mental illness so people can receive the professional help that they need. Help us with this fight!!! Please post this petition on your Facebook and other social media sites. Forward this email to your contacts. Help us achieve our monthly goal, which is to get 1,000 signatures a month. We would like to deliver 5,000 signatures to President Obama in April 2015. I encourage you to include comments because I read all of them. Also, your comments will be delivered to President Obama. Carolyn McKenzie

Psychologists with advanced training in psychopharmacology have been prescribing safely for decades without incident in other states and the military, and it's time for Hawaii to pass a law that will help it's people.

Dr. Vivek Murthy was nominated for the position of Surgeon General a year ago. He is eminently qualified for the position and endorsed by former Surgeon Generals and every medical organization. But NRA has opposed the nomination because of his comment on how gun violence has become a health issue. NRA has sent a letter to every senator indicating that it will score the vote, and Senator Harry Reid has refused to bring the nomination for vote out of fear of NRA, and the whole Indian-American community is furious with the situation. Now there are only two weeks left - this is urgent.