Far too many people have suffered and died in Louisiana from AIDS. We must take actions NOW in order to have the first AIDS-free generation.

In 2012, I fell from a ladder and hurt my hip. I was taken to the hospital, where I waited hours to be seen. After only a few minutes with a physician, I was sent home, but when my bill arrived, I discovered that those few minutes had cost me over $4,000! When I saw the ridiculous prices on that bill, I was outraged. It included charges like $51 for two pain pills. And there was no way for me to know how much I would be charged until the bill actually arrived, and no way for me to know if another hospital nearby might have cost less. If we’re serious about getting the cost of healthcare down, then patients like me and you need to be able to know how much we’ll be charged--before we decide who to see for our care! Help me tell our state legislature that they need to protect patients by giving us the transparency we need to make smart healthcare decisions.

Two years ago, I was hit by a car, and ended up in a coma at Cedars-Sinai. I was there for two weeks before they sent me home, still unable to walk, without physical therapy or pain medication because I didn't have insurance. Then the bills started. $235,000 for those two weeks. I just started crying. And the bills just kept coming. I'm working and feel better now, but the bills are still there. I can never pay this. And my story is just one of thousands. People across California are suffering from outrageous hospital bills. Bills with prices like $21 for a single aspirin tablet, $18 for two Alka-Seltzer, or $35 for a tube of hydrocortisone cream. Hospitals in California charge prices like these every day--overcharging by an average of 300% or more above their actual costs. And these kinds of prices keep many Californians from getting the care they need, and leave others--like me--under a growing mountain of healthcare debt. Meanwhile, the hospital industry in California made more than $4 billion in profits in 2012. We can’t afford it. California’s healthcare providers must bring costs down to reasonable, affordable rates.

New Jersey received more than $7.6 million from the federal government to publicize newly available health care coverage and how to access it through the Marketplace. Thus far the Governor has refused to use the money to let uninsured New Jerseyans know about the insurance options available to them. And time is running out. If the Governor doesn't act by TODAY, February 20th - and come up with a plan to spend the money on ACA outreach the Feds will take the money back. He's had well over a year to come up with a plan. Failing to spend the money on outreach and enrollment could mean that 95,000 New Jerseyans will go without health insurance this year. Please sign our petition demanding that Governor Christie put people's health before politics.

As the Affordable Health Care Act (AHCA aka "ObamaCare") operates currently, all of the insurance companies have been kept in place, & as taxpayers we are paying these insurance companies because the Federal Government was in a tight position, & didn't have the power to "throw the insurance companies under the bus". Fortunately, the Fed still looked out for us, & included a provision that allows states to CHOOSE to go single-payer (to bypass the insurance companies & put tax $$$ directly into paying for health care rather than paying insurance middlemen). Vermont has already switched over- which will save us ALL millions of dollars. NOW, it is time that we return he favour, because *technically* Vermont is still paying for every other state who has NOT switched. Switching California to a single-payer system will save millions of much-needed dollars dunng these hard economic times, & will set a leading example for other states to do the same so that our nation can re-allocate this money to other needed places. Here are some articles regarding this issue: "Single-Payer, a Better Solution" by New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2013/05/29/is-obamacare-too-complicated-to-succeed/a-single-payer-system-would-be-better-than-obamacare "Vermont Approves Single-Payer Health Care: ‘Everybody in, nobody out’" by Occupy Democrats http://www.occupydemocrats.com/vermont-makes-promise-people-video/ "Obamacare A Mess? Liberals Say Go Single Payer." by Forbes Magazine http://www.forbes.com/sites/paulroderickgregory/2013/10/28/obama-care-a-mess-liberals-say-go-single-payer/ "Vermont Health Care for All; Everybody In, Nobody Out." http://www.vermontforsinglepayer.org

My Son Joshua and 3 others live in the home that they want to move out and move in another population due the state feeling their population does not bring in enough financial gains. This is and has been their home for many years and due to "money" problems of the state be forced out of their home. They want to change this with in this year and needs to be stopped.

These amendments would wrongfully put e-cigarettes in the same category as tobacco products despite their clear lack of tobacco. This would also force e-cigarette users to be limited to public spaces designated as acceptable smoking areas.

Since 2009 Maine has lost an average of 170 people per year to drug overdoses. This is roughly one person every other day. This bill would help to save hundreds of lives over the next decade. Given your privileged position on the front lines of the drug abuse epidemic you are all too aware of the toll that drug use takes in human lives. Often, you are the first on the scene to a drug overdose. You've probably seen this problem grow worse and worse over the years. And now, with the influx of heroin, overdose deaths have become a public health emergency. Naloxone is what is called an opioid antagonist. It has no other use than to counteract the effects of an overdose. It produces no high, has no street value and no effect on an individual unless they have opioids in their system. What's more, studies have found that its distribution has no impact on rates of substance abuse - it does NOT increase how many people are abusing drugs. LD 1686 would expand access to Naloxone. It would enable this life-saving drug to be in the right place at the right time. It would enable law-enforcement, EMTs and others likely to be the first on the scene to carry and administer Naloxone to save someone's life. It would allow family and friends of persons with addiction issues to possess and administer Naloxone to save their son, daughter, husband or wife. As law enforcement officials you are dedicated to saving lives and protecting the public. That is just what this bill does.

We can't force private insurers to put people over profit, but we can make them compete with a public option that does. A public option would provide better care for less money, because policyholders wouldn't have to subsidize shareholder profits, big CEO bonuses, or expensive marketing campaigns.

We can't force private insurers to put people over profit, but we can make them compete with a public option that does. A public option would provide better care for less money, because policyholders wouldn't have to subsidize shareholder profits, big CEO bonuses, or expensive marketing campaigns.

We can't force private insurers to put people over profit, but we can make them compete with a public option that does. A public option would provide better care for less money, because policyholders wouldn't have to subsidize shareholder profits, big CEO bonuses, or expensive marketing campaigns.

Private insurers will always put profit and executive compensation above the well being of their their customers. With Wall Street downgrading any insurance company that does otherwise, we'll never be able to overcome that attitude, but we can make insurance companies compete with a public option that takes a very different, much more customer-centered approach. Such a true public option would provide better care for less money, because policyholders wouldn't have to subsidize shareholder profits, big CEO bonuses, or expensive marketing campaigns. Let's create that public option, the sooner the better!