I was a Workers Compensation Claims Examiner for many years. Now I am an injured worker. I have seen both sides of the system. The system has been skewed in favor of Insurance Carriers. People with settlements entitling them to future medical benefits are being denied for no other reason than the carrier can get away with it. In these situations, the injured workers' attorney has already been paid. There are no longer penalties to keep Insurers in line, and no reason for the attorney to do anything. They don't work for free. The "penalty" system in place now does not discourage Insurance Carriers from playing games with benefits people are entitled to. My adjuster illegally stopped payment of awarded permanent disability benefits. The big penalty for creating havoc in my life: $37.00. The Insurers have total medical control. That means any doctor who still will treat an injured worker is more interested in keeping the Insurer happy than he is about taking care of the injured worker. This year a majority of my medical benefits will be taken away by a game called "utilization review". Instead of reviewing my medical history to determine if a benefit is necessary, my Insurer will send a few pages of records, along with their viewpoint, to what we use to call a "doc in a box". That's a doctor whose going to tell you what, as an Insurer, you want to hear. If these doctors authorize treatment and benefits, do you think the Carrier is going to continue using them? My carrier has gone through 3 Utilization Review companies in the last year! The Insurance Industry had managed to cut benefits, take complete control of medical treatment, kick attorneys out of the system...and there's no one to stop them. I began as an Examiner in 1992. Workers Comp laws had just been changed to protect the injured worker. We called the older cases "starve and settle", because that's what happened. The examiner would stop benefits and wait until the injured worker was in such financial straits that they'd settle for nothing. I have problems getting medical treatment I'm legally entitled to and there's not much I can do. It's time to stop this!

Childhood obesity and the rampant spread of diet related diseases to our nations young people should be the number one concern in America today. We must take a stand to save the next generation. This dietary change could serve to reduce the cost to the public for completely preventable diet related diseases.

The federal government has been using their drug laws to supercede state law.The citizens of many states have voted to make medical marijuana legal and yet the feds are confiscating medicine ,seizing everything with their abuse of the civil asset forfeiture law and even jailing people who can not afford the expensive lawyers to defend themselves.Enough is enough,its time for the state to step up and protect its citizens by establishing definite regulations which will protect those involved with the growing ,transfer and distribution of medical marijuana.

We need state-run healthcare systems.

The Sandy Hook shooting stirred a discussion about mental health care. I have been a social worker for 13 years. I have worked in agencies over the years with clients facing serious life challenges such as trauma history, intellectual or physical disabilities, poverty, and mental illness. In some settings, the work can be rewarding but high stress, and the funding is low. We need to keep turnover low for people working in social service agencies. This is how we can value the people for whom social workers and social service agencies are providing care.

Restoration of reasonable and appropriate third-party payments for out-of-network services is essential to the economic, psychological and physical well-being of many NYS consumers, and to the adequate provision of important healthcare services by numerous providers, such as physicians, psychologists, social workers, nurse-practitioners and physical therapists.

Employers and health-insurance companies are increasingly withholding coverage for out-of-network healthcare services. Current options are increasingly limited to HMO plans and PPOs with dauntingly high out-of-network deductibles. Please help restore the freedom of practitioners to provide, and consumers to receive, a full range of treatment options in a manner which is economically feasible for both. Deprivation of such options can often seriously undermine psychological well-being, physical health, and in some cases, survival itself.

Solving the Health Care Problem in 10 Years. US Doctors have a monopoly on health care. Best union in the world increasing costs and decreasing care. Have government train doctors and nurses similar to program in armed forces. Make public service mandatory for a period of 10 years after becoming licensed physician.

Put a check-box on the personal tax return to place a nominal ($3.00?) dollar amount for funding Planned Parenthood.

Legalize what is needed & utilized by many in ID.

Recently I had to get insurance companies approve drugs I was already taking.

As you know, there are many elderly and poor citizens who are unable to afford health care. Our president has provided measures for the states to accommodate those less fortunate than you and I. Please, Govenor Bentley and legislature, reconsider your decision not support the President's effort to provide health care for everyone in the State of Alabama.