Last session the Florida Senate proposed a solution to take the federal money. While not the best it did attempt to help our population. The house refused to do anything. The Governor gave a half-hearted endorsement and nothing was accomplished. The reason the house gave was that they didn't trust the government to pay its bills and medicaid has many flaws. Both of these reasons are ridiculous. The Federal government has always paid its bills and the state has a large say in how medicaid is done. So if there are problems with the program, the very people who are complaining are the ones who should be fixing it. Florida has the third highest number of people who die prematurely each year because they are without health insurance, according to a Families USA study. The nonprofit, created to get all Americans quality, affordable healthcare, found that 2,272 people ages 25 to 64 died in Florida in 2010 because they did not have health insurance to pay for medical costs. Also we gave up 50 Billion dollars that will go to other states and the payments to hospitals for caring for people without insurance will be cut drastically. This will cause a huge strain on our hospitals since they are required by law to care for the poor.

Only one side of the story is being told by the media. Why are we so afraid of providing health care to everyone? Why are we so afraid of taking care of our brothers? How can other countries make health care services available to the populace and we turn our heads? America, we are better than that!

The healthcare cost savings alone to these people, going back into the economy, plus savings to the state in indigent healthcare costs, will far more than offset any perceived disadvantages of participation in the program.

Can you imagine going to your local pharmacy and paying $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 500% or more above their actual costs. On top of that, nonprofit hospital system CEOs are making up to $4.8 million a year!** Rising healthcare costs are keeping many Californians from getting the care they need, and leaving others 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. Ask California’s health care regulators to keep hospitals to a reasonable rate of no more than 25% above the true cost of medical care (including material, facility, and labor costs), with allowances made to offset costs of charity care. We will deliver your signature directly to California Attorney General Kamala Harris, Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones, and California Health & Human Services Secretary Diana S. Dooley. *Prime Centinela Medical Center, Inglewood; Sutter Memorial Hospital, Sacramento; Cedars-Sinai Hospital, Los Angeles **Lloyd Dean made $4,882,756 million from July, 2011 to June, 2012 as CEO of Dignity Health.

When I read a recent news story about how one hospital charged $1000 for one toothbrush, I admit to being skeptical. But then my friend’s wife accidentally cut her finger and was charged $1000 for one tube of skin adhesive -- medicine you can buy online for $40. Turns out, overinflated medical prices wasted an estimated $105 billion in America in 2009. And that’s the tip of the iceberg. Excessive administrative costs and paperwork wasted $190 billion. Duplicate treatments and medical errors wasted $130 billion. Overall, roughly one-third of all health care spending is waste. (source: Institute of Medicine) Insurance companies should focus on cutting this waste, but too many of them just raise premiums and expect consumers to foot the bill. That's why we're calling on Governor Kitzhaber to require insurers to do more to cut this waste, before they are allowed to raise premiums.

I was in the hospital and checked out at 10:00 AM. I noticed on my bill I was charged for that day. When I asked what constituted a day I was referred to my Medical Provider. When I asked my Medical Provider I was referred to their booklet which simply stated what the amount of my co-payment was without explaining what constituted a day. Before 12PM, After 12PM ?? Since they never told me, I refused to pay for that day. They threatened to report me to a credit agency. I still refused to pay. I then checked with Medicare regulations which states: THE LAST BILLABLE DAY YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR IS THE DAY PRECEDING THE DAY OF DISCHARGE. I t's the law, yet many hospitals charge for the day of discharge which amounts to HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS of ILLEGAL CHARGES EVERY YEAR. The hospital cancelled the charge for the extra day for me. BUT What about you and your friends? Whose looking out for your protection? This 87 year old needs help to STOP THESE ILLEGAL CHARGES FROM BEING IMPOSED. Please alert your friends. WE NEED SIGNATURES BY JANUARY 31,2014.

On World AIDS Day, President Obama announced he is committing $100 million of the National Institute of Health's budget to find a cure for AIDS. This is a $33 million increase in AIDS cure funding each year for three years and will pay for pivotal new research that will move us all closer to a cure. We want to thank the government officials who made this bold decision possible: Anthony Fauci, MD (head of the NIH Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases); Jack Whitescarver, PhD (Head of the Office of AIDS Research); Carl Dieffenbach, PhD (Director of the NIH Division of AIDS); Francis Collins, MD PhD (Director of the National Institutes of Health); and President Barack Obama.

The Affordable Care Act is not perfect. But it is in place and can be fixed as the need becomes apparent. And it is a whole lot better than what has been in place for the last several decades. Killing it would be nothing but a huge step backwards.

My neighbors pay their mortgage by donating plasma and yet do not qualify for Medicaid in Kansas. They have health conditions that need care but aren’t getting it. A friend goes without his insulin because he cannot afford to buy it but also does not qualify because he is too poor for Obamacare. Under the Affordable Care Act Kansans who are below 138% of the federal poverty level ($15,856 for an individual and $32,499 for a family of four) are not eligible. This leaves 240,000 Kansans uninsured. It was intended that the Medicaid Expansion would then cover these people but our Governor did not accept it for Kansas. A key provision of the Affordable Care Act is the expansion of the Medicaid program to these Kansans. The federal government will pay most of the costs of financing the Medicaid expansion.

Many people in Mississippi are stuck in the Medicaid/Affordable Health Care gap, my daughter and her family included. She earns more than the poverty level so can't qualify for Medicaid, but not enough to qualify for the premium support provided by Affordable Health Care. Our governor opted out of the expanded Medicaid program which has left so many out in the cold.

It is easy to frame any issue to suit one's own agenda. The right wing of this country has framed Obamacare as a government take-over and a fiscally irresponsible action rather than as a modest proposal to help with our nation's health care crisis. The US spends more than two-and-a-half times more on health care per person than most other developed nations in the world. Obamacare is a modest and fiscally responsible step in the right direction of reducing those costs.

This petition is started to preserve the rights of patient's in chronic and intractable pain to get prescribe the medications that they need, and to stop PROP from sabotaging our treatment and our rights.